Pictures of You
by MyEccentricSelf
Summary: When Evelyn Mercer was killed, her son's came back to seek revenge. But when an old Mercer friend comes home to help them, will Jack be able to protect her and find his mother's killers, or will he wind up losing her as well?
1. Chapter 1

I leaned against the bus window as we came into Detroit.

Yesterday I had learned that my 'mother' had been killed in a shoot up at local store. Evelyn Mercer wasn't actually my mother, she was more like my adopted mother, I'd grown up in the house beside her for years, and she'd taken care of me when my real mother was either drinking too much or she had one of her many boyfriends with her, and then, when I was sixteen and my mom had just up and disappeared Evelyn was the only thing that I had.

I sighed and pulled my guitar closer, hugging it to me as I thought back to the four brothers. First, there was Bobby Mercer, the oldest of the four and the one that got into the most trouble. Jeremiah Mercer the second oldest who was married and had two daughters. Angel Mercer, the third oldest who had just gotten out of the army and then, there was Jack, Jack was the youngest of the four. He was

beautiful, and he was a musician just like me. His band, The Spares, hadn't done as well as he'd hoped though. At least that's what he had told me on the phone when we talked last night.

I was excited to see them again, although I wasn't sure if Bobby was going to show up, he wasn't exactly reliable when you needed to find him, but I did hope he would come for his own mother's funeral, especially for Jack's sake. Jack had been in the system for a long time before Evelyn found him and took him in, I knew that this was probably killing him; it had shown in his voice last night when he called to tell me.

It was hard for him to lose his mother, especially after everything he had had to go through, we'd talked about it quite a lot when we were kids, especially since we were the youngest of the group. Jack was one of those kids that had had shit handed to him and he still turned into someone who cared about you, even if you didn't always deserve it. That's the reason that I had grown so close to him before we both went our separate ways, he didn't care about my past all he cared about was the present.

That was why Bobby had been so close to him too. Bobby had had a rough life to, but he just seemed to really care about Jack, mostly because he was a little naïve.

I sighed and closed my eyes, pressing my forehead against the window.

_**I walked into my house, seeing my mother's car in the driveway. It was five o'clock and my mother had already gotten into a bottle of Captain Morgan's. I sighed, trying to be quiet as I passed by the living room so I wouldn't be spotted, knowing I probably should have just slipped back out of the house and gone to Miss Evelyn's house for dinner that night.**_

_**My mom wasn't exactly a bad person, she was just a little overworked and as a result she always went to Captain Morgan to drown away her worries, the only problem was, alcohol always made her a bit…well, angry. And, being the only other person who lived there, I was usually the one that got the most of the anger, unless the walls got it first.**_

"_**Danielle, come here." My mother's voice came through the hallway to where I was trying to slip upstairs.**_

_**I sighed and dropped my backpack, walking into the living room to see my mother who was holding a Captain Morgan in one hand and putting a cigarette out into an empty bottle.**_

"_**Yes mom?" I smiled at her slightly, testing her mood, hoping that maybe she wasn't as drunk as she usually was at this time.**_

_**Unfortunately, for me she was already drunk and I flinched as she stood up and slapped me across the face.**_

"_**Where were you it's seven thirty?" She raised her hand again and I stepped back.**_

"_**Mom, it's only five." I told her, knowing I should have kept my mouth shut but today had not been a good day for me anyway. I was tired of people telling me lies and I was tired of being treated like a ragdoll.**_

_**My mother's face grew red with anger and I took another step back, and got to the door frame before she exploded with anger. She threw the Captain Morgan bottle at me, but luckily her aim was bad and it hit the floor, some of the glass flying off the floor and cutting my ankle.**_

_**I cursed, and looked down at the bottle before looking back at my mother who was coming toward me, her face growing angrier now that she had just lost her alcohol.**_

_**I bit my lip as she pulled me back into the living room, screaming random things at me as she did so and let her slowly get over her anger.**_

I looked up from my seat and yawned as the bus came to a stop. I saw Jerry standing outside, a slightly sad look on his face as I stepped off the bus and out into the cold Michigan air.

"Danny, it's been forever girl." We hugged and he helped me carry my bag to his car. I held onto my guitar as we walked toward it, "So how have you been?"

I shrugged, "Okay I guess, I graduated college a month ago and now I'm just trying to get a better job."

"You graduated from college and you didn't call anyone?" Jerry gave me an annoyed look as he started the car and cautiously pulled onto the highway.

I shrugged again, "Actually I did, Jack just seemed to be the only one who decided to show up."

"I never got a call Danny"

"Really, because I sent out some invitations."

Jerry nodded and started driving again, "I guess I just didn't get it, I'm sorry Danny.."

We drove in silence then and I looked out the window as snow began to fall, covering the ground in a fine white powder.

"I hate snow." I said, sticking my tongue out.

Jerry laughed, the sound was strained as if he hadn't laughed in months, "You never did like snow."

_**I sat in the kitchen of my house crying as my mom walked out, going to work for the night. I looked down at my ankle, seeing the deep gashes and decided that it probably would be best to go over to Miss Evelyn's to see if she could find a Band-Aid or something. I sighed and stood up, making sure not to put too much weight on it as I limped out the house and over to her house.**_

"_**Miss Evelyn?" I knocked on the door and smiled slightly as Bobby opened the door. He looked down at me and sighed as he saw the bruise that was already appearing on my arm.**_

_**I couldn't understand why he always seemed to be visiting when I came to Miss. Evelyn's for worse things than staying the night. He always seemed to have to be there to see it. The one thing I wanted to know was where Jack was, he hadn't even come to the door to see who was here.**_

"_**Come on Danny." He moved to let me in and grabbed my arm lightly as I tripped from putting so much weight on my leg, "Jesus, what the hell happened?"**_

"_**I dropped a glass bottle." I shrugged acting as if it didn't matter.**_

_**He didn't look convinced, "And it landed behind you?"**_

"_**Yeah, it was weird." I gave him another smile and he helped me sit down before going to get his mom.**_

_**When she came in she was carrying a large Band-Aid and a pair of tweezers. Miss Evelyn had a worried look on her face as she sat down and demanded to see my leg. She looked at my arm as she pulled some pieces of glass out.**_

_**We sat there silently and eventually Bobby came down stairs again, "So, when are you going to tell someone what's going on Danny?"**_

"_**What is going on Bobby?" I looked at him and he rolled his eyes, annoyed.**_

"_**You can't just keep letting her do that to you."**_

"_**My mom's not doing anything. I told you I dropped a glass."**_

_**He slammed his hand on the table and I jumped slightly, "Stop bullshitting Danielle. This is serious."**_

"_**I'm being serious Bobby, I dropped a bottle."**_

"_**Then explain to me the bruises on your arms." Bobby glared at me and I looked away, trying to come up with some kind of excuse.**_

"_**Leave it alone Bobby." Miss Evelyn sighed and pulled another piece of glass out of my ankle before putting the Band-Aid on it.**_

_**Bobby rolled his eyes but left it alone.**_

_**I looked out the window then, seeing some white flakes falling down and made a face, turning to Miss Evelyn.**_

"_**So um…Miss Mercer, may I stay here tonight?" I asked shyly.**_

_**Miss Evelyn smiled, "Absolutely."**_

Jerry pulled into the parking lot of the cemetery, Jack was already there, standing amidst a crowd of people with his hands in his pockets. He looked like he'd been crying quite a lot and I felt bad, knowing I probably should have talked to him longer tonight. Bobby was there to, looking just like the same tough guy I grew up with. I got out of the car and walked up to them, hugging Jack immediately.

"Hey guys."I gave them a half-hearted smile and went to hug Bobby.

"Hey Danny." Jack replied.

Bobby gave me the one over, taking in my appearance, I hadn't changed much in the three years I had last seen the guys, but I had changed my hair a bit, adorning it with a couple of multicolored streaks.

"You look different college girl." Bobby said.

I rolled my eyes, "Really Bobby, do we have to start with the teasing already?"

He only shrugged and we began to walk toward the casket, I grabbed Jack's hand and squeezed it reassuringly, and stopped, the large group of people stopping behind us as they all waited for the funeral to begin.

"We have gathered here today to remember one of the most remarkable woman that has ever live." The priest began.

I stared at the casket, the news fully sinking in now that Evelyn was in fact dead, this wasn't some cruel prank that the brothers were trying to play on me. I wiped away some tears with my free hand as I stared at the casket, knowing that the one woman who gave five messed up kid the opportunity to better themselves. The woman that had expected nothing in return from those children was gone…and I'd never even gotten the right chance to actually thank her.

The priest continued talking and then stepped down, letting people go up to speak about her.

Jack let go of my hand first and walked up to the small stage area that had been set up and cleared his throat. He started talking but I could barely hear what he was saying, he wasn't speaking loud enough, even for me being in the front row until someone asked him to speak up.

He got louder and slightly more confident and continued, "…You were hardly given anything to eat. You learn to take what you can get. When Evelyn took me in, it was no different for me. Until she caught me with my pockets all full and she tried to explain to me what it meant to be adopted, and what it meant to have a family, what it meant to have a last name. And, she would say: 'Jackie... there's no reason to steal your own toothbrush anymore.' Cause I would, I would, I would take it, and I would put it in my sock drawer..." He smiled slightly remembering times with his mom and then stepped down, moving to stand next to me again.

"You're turn." He whispered, pushing me toward the small stage. I tripped slightly and walked up there, taking a deep breath.

"When my mom moved here, she instantly made friends with Evelyn, knowing that she could help watch me when she worked all day and most of the night at different restaurants. Evelyn decided to help out my mom and then as I continued to grow up I even became friends with her adopted sons along the way. But she helped me get through the days when my mom was drinking more than she should and even took me in when my mom just disappeared.

"The only thing was, she never had to do that. I was pretty sure that I could make it on my own at first. But I was having problems with things myself. She knew that I wasn't going to spend money on food and she knew that I was going to drop out of school if no one was there to take care of me. Therefore, like every other time my mom wasn't being a mom, she took me in and raised me, becoming more of a mother to me than my own biological one. I never looked for my real mom after she left, mostly because I felt safer with Evelyn and her four sons than I had ever felt with my mother. And, at first, that really scared me, but as the years went on I just stopped thinking about how things would have been different if my mom stayed. They would have been different though and if she had stayed my life probably would have taken a turn for the worst…and because of Evelyn, well, I felt like there was a need for me to survive mostly because she wanted to take care of me, no matter how much I just wanted to be on my own." I touched Evelyn's coffin for a moment and took a deep breath, continuing to stare at for as I thought over everything that she had saved me from.

I stepped down then, my hand coming off the coffin slowly as I did, walking back to stand in between Jack and Bobby, grabbing their hands as more and more people stood up to tell their stories about her. I leaned into Jack slightly and let a few more tears escape as I looked only at the coffin, wishing the Evelyn would just appear and tell everyone to get their asses back home.

Jack shook slightly for a moment and I saw him look down from the corner of my eye. I couldn't believe that this woman brought the five of us together, had brought us together again after years of not really keeping in contact.

I think she would have been happy that most of us showed up though, showed up to give her our love just like she had given us hers.


	2. Chapter 2

After the funeral, I rode with Bobby and Jack to Jerry's house, my luggage and guitar already moved to Bobby's car.

"So what have you guys been up to?" I asked, Bobby was driving fast through the streets, the opposite way that Jerry had drove and I was clinging to the passenger seat as he weaved in and out of traffic.

"I've been a freaking college professor what do you think?" Bobby laughed, trying to stay strong like he had throughout the whole funeral.

"I doubt that." Jack said from the back.

I smiled in return, "What he said Bobby."

Bobby rolled his eyes and parked on the side, "What about you Danny? I mean, you graduated college, you should have some great job."

"Actually I've been getting a lot of gigs lately. And guess who showed up at one a couple of days ago." I smiled.

"Who?" Jack sounded curious and leaned forward between the seats to look at me.

I smiled, "Do you guys remember Kevin?"

"That guy that helped you move in with us?" Bobby parked on the side of the road and looked at me too.

I nodded, "Yeah, he and that chick broke up a while ago, they have a little baby boy and he saw that I was performing at a club and apparently decided to check it out. So afterwards, he took me out to dinner and we talked for a bit. He looks exactly the same as he did five years ago, it was crazy."

"That's great." Jack stepped out of the car, Bobby and I watched him as he walked to Jerry's house.

"I just pissed him off didn't I?" I said, watching him.

Bobby sighed, "Go run after him Danny, you always did that anyway."

"Don't be an ass." I punched him in the arm and got out of the car, running toward Jack.

"Jackie wait up please!" I yelled.

He stopped, "What?"

"Why did you get all pissed off huh?"

Jack shook his head, "I'm not mad."

"You're not mad? Jackie, I know you better than that." I stepped in front of him and poked him in the chest, "You're a jerk."

He smiled slightly and we started walking again, he grabbed my hand and Bobby appeared behind us.

"When are the two of you going to grow up, huh? Just go out already."

"Bobby not right now man, our mom just died." Jack turned to look at him and I rolled my eyes.

"I know, I'm just saying, mom would have like to see you two together you little fairy."

I tried to hold back a laugh but failed.

Jack pushed me with his shoulder and we walked to the funeral party hugging Jerry again as we walked into the backyard.

"Did Angel show up?" I asked.

Jerry shook his head sadly, "No, I figure he just decided that it wasn't worth his time."

"Asshole." I said annoyed.

Bobby nodded in agreement and then we followed Jack over to greet Jerry's daughters.

"Hey you must be Daniela." He smiled at the little girl and Bobby smiled over at the puppy in front of the two girls.

"And you must be Amelia. I like your dress."

Amelia laughed at Bobby, "I'm Amelia."

"I know you probably don't remember us but I'm your Uncle Bobby, this is your Aunt Danny, and that is Cracker Jack." Bobby gave them another smile.

"Man, don't teach them that." Jack sighed in annoyance.

Daniela looked slightly unsure, "You can't be our aunt and uncles. You're white."

"Grandma Eva's white." Amelia said to her sister annoyed.

Bobby nodded, "That's right. You see we're a different kind of Aunt and Uncle. Your grandma, she adopted us just like she adopted your daddy."

I smiled at them kindly and they ran off to go play somewhere. Bobby stood up and looked behind his shoulder, some sort of weird reflex he got when cops were around or something.

"Alright everyone you're all under arrest." Officer Green walked in with some loser following him around.

Bobby stood up, "What about me Green, you gonna arrest me too?"

"That depends Bobby, you keeping straight?" Office Green smiled.

Bobby shrugged, "Straight-ish."

They hugged, "Thanks for coming Green. Ma would've been happy you made it to the service."

"Shit, your mom would have been happy that you made it back for her funeral."

"I didn't come for no funeral."

I sighed, "Bobby, can we not do that right now? I mean really, we have nothing to go on."

"We?" Bobby looked at me as if I had gone crazy for a moment.

I nodded, "I'm not missing out on all the fun Bobby."

Officer Green sighed, "Let's not talk about this in front of a pair of cops now okay?"

"Forget that Green, I used to make a good living around here because cops like you couldn't find tits in a strip joint."

I let out a laugh and then saw the look on Green's face.

"Hey Jackie, let's go."

We walked away, leaving Bobby with Officer Green.

_**I sat in the living room with Bobby, Jerry, and Angel. Sitting next to Bobby I began to doze off, being eight years old and having to watch a hockey game was a bit boring.**_

"_**Mom wants us to clean the house before the new kid gets here." Jerry stood up and began picking things off the table.**_

_**Bobby sighed and I got off him, following him around as we tried to pick up, I was bad about following Bobby around, I felt safe near him, not that I didn't feel safe with Angel or Jerry, but I'd seen Bobby yell at my mom, and that really brought me to like him.**_

_**He was like the father-figure I had always craved, not that he liked the idea when I accidentally called him dad, but he understood, I needed someone like a father because I'd never had one of those.**_

_**Bobby sighed, "Hey Danny, why don't you go sit down okay, we'll finish this really quick."**_

_**I nodded and then sat down.**_

…

_**An hour later, the brothers and I were sitting in the living room again, continuing the hockey game when we heard the sound of the front door opening.**_

"_**Boys." Miss Evelyn call. They stood up and walked into the hallway, I followed close behind Bobby and stood behind him, halfway hidden as Miss Evelyn introduced the boy that was going to be staying with them.**_

_**The kid was my age, and really skinny in an unhealthy way and the white cast around his arm was held down at his side, his other hand holding a shiny lighter that he opened and closed nervously. His clothes seemed to be about three sizes too big for his frail-like body. He also had a large bruise of his cheek, something that he was trying to cover with his messy blonde hair. His blue eyes held a scared look as he looked at the three boys in front of him.**_

"_**Jack, these are my sons Bobby, Jerry, and Angel," She smiled down at him and I stepped out from behind Bobby, "And this is our next door neighbor Danielle, she stays here most nights with us."**_

_**I waved and smiled at him, trying to get some other expression but fear to appear on his face, but he just looked even more alarmed that I was even paying him any attention. So I shrunk back behind Bobby and bit my lip, trying to think of some way to make the situation…not as awkward.**_

"_**Anyway, I'm going to go cook dinner, Danny you and Jack can go into the living room and watch some tv and I would like the three of you to come help me." She smiled again and I walked down the stairs motioning for Jack to follow me into the living room.**_

"Hey Danny, what're you thinking about?" Jack came up behind me from where I was sitting, making me jump.

I turned around and looked up at him, "Just your first few days at the Mercer house."

"Jeez, that was forever ago."

I smiled, "About thirteen years."

"And you used to be so screwed up." Jack returned my smile half-heartedly.

I raised an eyebrow, "I'm the one that was screwed up?"

"Yeah, you really were."


	3. Chapter 3

I rode with Bobby and Jack again as we drove back to the old house. It looked the same as it had when I left, the same white paint and brick foundation that had always been there.

"Jesus, this place hasn't changed a bit." I stepped out of Bobby's car and carried my guitar and suitcase into the house after Jerry.

It was dark inside the house, especially because of how dark it was outside, it was probably seven o'clock and it was already pitch black.

Jerry turned on the lights and we saw Angel stand up from his seat in the dark.

"Hey Angel, it's good to see your ass decided to show up." I said crossing my arms in annoyance.

Jack smiled, "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Yeah, I know." Angel hugged him.

"Hey did you get your teeth whitened?" Jack smiled at Angel and he rolled his eyes.

"Man shut up Jackie-Poo."

I let out a laugh and Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance at the nickname from our childhood.

I punched Angel in the arm, "Dude, why the hell did you miss her funeral? I mean come on man, she was your mom."

I was mad at him for missing his mother's funeral; I mean that woman had raised him when no one else would. That bastard could have taken the time out of his 'busy' schedule to come to something that should have been extremely important.

Angel looked back at me, unflinching as my glare continued to be fueled by anger. I looked away then, moving passed him, and going upstairs to my room to dump my things on my bed.

I sat down on my bed and looked at some of the posters that were on the walls, and sighed thinking back to Evelyn again. I couldn't understand why someone would want to kill a woman that had done so much good in her life. She never asked for anything in return either, it was like the end of the world with her gone…and her son didn't even bother to come to her funeral.

I sighed and put my head in my hands, feeling a migraine come on. I needed some caffeine.

I stood up and walked down stairs again, moving passed the four boys and into the kitchen, Jack following me as I opened the fridge.

"You okay Danny?" He leaned against the counter and watched as I pulled out a soda.

I nodded, "Yeah, I haven't had caffeine today and I have a headache."

"Oh okay." I smiled over at him and sat on the counter beside him, taking a sip out of the coke can.

Jack looked over at me, his eyes still red from the funeral and I pushed some hair out of his eyes. He smiled at me and I took another sip of coke as we sat there looking at each other, both lost in thought.

Jack looked away then and stared down at the linoleum floor. It was weird for me, being back in the house with everyone under one roof, mainly because Evelyn wasn't there, and I had a feeling that the boys felt the same was as I did. I kept expecting Evelyn to walk into the kitchen, telling me to get off the counter and asking Jack to help her make dinner.

"Hey, Danny, since you're the girl in the house are you going to cook us some dinner or what?" Bobby walked in, ruining our silence.

I laughed, "I don't know how to cook Bobby."

"You don't know how to cook?" Jack looked up at me again and laughed, "I thought all girls knew how to cook."

I smacked him in the back of the head and slid off the counter, "No, not all girls know how to cook, but I know you know Jackie, so why don't you cook?"

He flashed me a smile, "You have to help."

"Sorry, I can't."

I walked out of the kitchen and outside, sitting on the porch to the small swing set that was sitting in the yard of my old house. I walked over to it, knowing that no one had moved in there, it was put under my name when my mom left, and sat down, staring at the night sky.

This was one of the only things I missed about Detroit, being able to sit outside and stare at the stars to think. It was one thing that I didn't like about Los Angeles, you never saw the stars, but it was always warm. For me this was like the best place to think, it was in a small secluded area of my old yard and as a result when it got to dark it was hard to see if someone was there or not.

It was here that I decided to move in with Miss Evelyn and it was also here that Jack and I had gotten to know each other when he first became a Mercer. This place was just a place where good things happened, to me at least.

"So you decided to escape out here so you wouldn't have to help Cracker Jack cook, really?" I looked over, seeing Bobby's silhouette coming closer. I could hear the smile in his face as he sat down on the swing beside the one I was sitting on.

I looked over at him and smiled too, "Yeah, that and this is one of the only things I've missed about Detroit."

"I guess that makes sense. LA must have quite a lot of light pollution and you did have this weird obsession with looking at the stars." Bobby laughed.

"It wasn't an obsession…and how did you know that I lived in LA?" I squinted in the dark trying to see Bobby's expression.

He shrugged, "Jack told me, said you had a pretty good graduation party too. He also said that your band performed pretty well too."

"You know, if you had come, you could have seen us perform to." The bitterness oozed through my voice as I glared at him, knowing that he couldn't see me.

Bobby sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't come. I wasn't in LA and I couldn't pay for the ticket."

"I could have."

He sighed again and I looked at the ground.

_**I walked into the kitchen where Bobby and the others were waiting for Miss Evelyn. Said woman was currently upstairs trying to coax the new kid to come down and eat.**_

_**I could understand why he was scared, Miss Evelyn had explained what had happened to him, and being around older boys probably scared him with what he'd had to do go through it was no wonder that he didn't want to be near them.**_

"_**So, how much do you wanna bet that ma adopts him?" Bobby looked over at Angel and Jerry.**_

_**Angel shrugged, "There's no question, she's not gonna put him back in the system. There's no way."**_

_**Bobby nodded and then looked over at me, I was propping my head up on the table with my hand, trying to pay attention to what they were talking about.**_

"_**What do you think Danny? Wouldn't it be nice to have a kid around your age?"**_

_**I nodded, and turned around as Miss Evelyn walked down, Jack following her like a shadow. She sat him down on the seat across from me and then stood at the head of the table, we stood up as well and joined hands, skipping Jack as he stayed sitting down.**_

"_**Dear Lord, thank you for this food-"**_

_**I snuck a peak of Jack, seeing him look at the food like it was going to walk away. He looked hungrier than he had when he stepped into the house.**_

"_**Amen."**_

_**We all sat down then and I pushed a bowl toward Jack, watching him take it before handing it on the Miss Evelyn.**_

"_**Jack sweetie, you can have some if you like."**_

_**He bit his lip and watched as she put food on his plate and picked his fork up, trying to be as quiet and small as possible as everyone else began eating and talking about their day as the food disappeared from their plates.**_

"-don't you think that would be cool?" Bobby finished whatever he was saying and I looked over at him confused.

"Dude, what did you say?"

Bobby laughed, "I was saying that it would be nice to meet your friends from your band."

"Oh…no." I said, shaking my head.

I doubted that Bobby would like my friends, I mean they weren't exactly the best influences and I'd had problems with alcohol when I was growing up, so Miss Evelyn had tried to keep me away from it, which is why I drank caffeine a lot. My 'friends' however were the type of people who drank just because they thought it would get them famous.

I had started drinking a bit to, not as much as I had been when I was sixteen, but it would probably piss Bobby off.

"Why not?" Bobby demanded, he sounded slightly like a child demanding why his mother wouldn't let him have any candy.

I laughed, "Because you wouldn't like them."

"Oh I wouldn't. Why is that?"

I shrugged, "Because."

I stood up then and Bobby copied me, "Tell me."

"They drink." I said it as if it didn't matter and Bobby groaned, "I'm not drinking that much…"

"Yeah, you're right. I don't like them already."

I sighed, "But you haven't even met them yet."

"I don't have to."

We walked inside the house again and I went to help Jack cook.


	4. Chapter 4

I walked upstairs tiredly, it had been a long day and I just wanted to go fall on my bed and sleep until summer. As I got to the landing of the second floor, I looked and saw that Jack's door was open slightly and I could hear the sounds of his guitar playing.

I walked over to the door and opened it, seeing Jack playing a soft little melody and staring at the strings like he wanted them to burst into flames.

"Hey Jackie, what're you up to?" I leaned into the doorframe, my gray night gown barely covering the plaid shorts I was wearing under them and I watched as Jack looked at my legs quickly before looking at my face.

He blushed slightly, something he had always done when he saw something other than the skin of my arms and I smiled over at him, waiting for his answer.

"I'm just sitting here."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Doesn't exactly sound like you're just sitting there. What's with the lullaby you were playing there a few seconds ago?"

I moved over to his bed and he moved over slightly, letting me sit beside him. He slung his arm around my shoulder and I leaned closer to him, enjoying the warmth that emanated from his body.

"That wasn't anything, I'm just playing around." Jack took his arm off my shoulders to place his guitar on the floor behind us.

I smiled, "What're you thinking about huh?"

"Just the fact that I never planned on coming back here for this," Jack sighed and I saw the flash of pain that anyone who didn't know him would have missed.

I knew he was scared…and angry, we all were, whoever killed Miss Evelyn was going to die, and they were going to die wishing they had never messed with the Mercer family. But everyone was scared, we didn't know where to start…and we were about to follow Bobby around blindly on some wild goose chase to find the assholes who did it.

"I didn't plan on coming back period. I guess I just figured Miss. Evelyn would live forever?"

Jack watched as I bit my lip and laughed slightly, "Why do you still call her that. I mean she took care of you even before your mom left…"

He trailed off as I winced slightly, I still didn't like talking about my mom abandoning me when I was seventeen and Jack understood that, he still didn't like to talk about his time in all the foster homes. I supposed Evelyn and I were the only ones who actually knew what had happened to him. Though I was glad that Evelyn had found him…I had always wished that he hadn't had to go through that.

I just wished that maybe there had been another way for Jackie and I to have met instead of having to meet after he had had to gone through dealing with foster parents that abused him if he breathed. But, some things happened for a reason, so there was probably a reason that we met like that, no matter how much I wanted to admit it.

"Sorry Danny, I didn't realize that that was still a touchy subject with you."

I bit my lip and looked up at him, "It's okay, I suppose I should be over it by now."

"That was a total cop out." Jack put his arm over my shoulder again and I snuggled closer into his side, enjoying the smell of his leather jacket mixed with his cologne, it was a nice scent. Something that had always been able to calm me down when I was a kid and was still trying to do stupid shit to get my mom to come back.

I laughed slightly, "Yeah I suppose you're right, but that's about all you're gonna get from me now."

"Well, one thing hasn't changed. You're still a stubborn little brat."

"Ouch, I think you just broke my heart."

We laughed for a moment and I realized that this was probably the most Jack had laughed in the past two days.

"I need to go to sleep." I sighed and went to stand up.

"You can stay in here…if you want to."

He had this weird shy look on his face and I smiled, "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

I sat back down and Jack turned off the light from behind him and allowed me to snuggle into his covers that had the same leather and cologne smell too. He grabbed me around the waist, pulling me closer to him as we both drifted off to sleep.

_**I opened the front door of my house, expecting my mom to be there, already drowned in a Captain Morgan's. But, as I walked past the living room, she wasn't there. If there was one thing that struck me as strange it was the fact that my mother wasn't already in the living room, wanting to know where I was.**_

"_**Mom?" I called, expecting her to come downstairs, with a tired expression telling me to shut up.**_

_**No answer came back as I walked up the stairs loudly and went to my mother's bedroom door which was always closed. This morning though, the door was open revealing an empty room with an unmade bed and some empty beer bottles on the nightstand.**_

"_**Mom?" I called again, unsure of what was going on.**_

_**She shouldn't have been at work because her shift ended at three in the morning and her day shift didn't start until ten. It was only seven o'clock. I walked into her room cautiously, still hoping that maybe she would come out of the restroom and tell me to get out of her room, demanding where I was all night.**_

_**But she never came. She wasn't in the bathroom and when I checked her closet where she sometimes liked to escape to, it was empty. All of her clothes were gone and it was as if she had packed in a hurry because even the hangers were gone, something she never would have taken with her if she was leaving for a trip or something.**_

_**I sat down for a moment, trying to come up with another explanation other than the obvious one. There was no way my mom could have just left me without saying goodbye. She had to tell me goodbye right? I mean she was my mom…**_

"_**Danielle?" I jumped at the sound of my name, feeling disappointed at the sound of Jack's voice coming from downstairs.**_

_**With a heavy heart I walked to the landing, "Hey Jackie."**_

_**My voice was thick and I could feel tears wanting to escape, but I pushed them back, not wanting to let Jack see me cry.**_

"_**Is everything okay?" He looked confused and he walked up the steps toward me and gave me a quick hug.**_

_**I shook my head, not returning the embrace, "I think my mom left."**_

"_**What?"**_

"_**My mom isn't here and all her clothes are gone." I answered Jack's question and broke down.**_

_**He allowed me to cry on his shoulder and he sat us down, rocking back and forth slightly to calm me down.**_

"_**Shh…Danny, it's going to be okay."**_

"_**No, it's not, my mom's gone Jack."**_

_**He sighed, not sure what to say, "You can move in with us. I'm sure mom would love to have you come move in, it'd be a lot easier anyway."**_

_**He continued rocking us back and forth as I tried to calm myself down, unable to for another few moments.**_


	5. Chapter 5

I sat up and blinked, trying to wake up as I looked over at Jack's still sleeping form. He had a relaxed expression, something I had never seen on his face.

I smiled and moved some of the hair out of his face as he breathed deeply, lost in his own little dream world. He turned over, mumbled something in his sleep, and pulled me a little closer to him. I bit my lip, wondering momentarily how I could get out of the bed without waking him up before unhooking his hands around me and finally escaping his bed.

With one last look at him, I walked out of his room and into the chilly hallway, walking downstairs and seeing Bobby with his head in his hands sitting at the kitchen table. I watched him silently until he looked up at me, trying to hide that he was crying.

"Hey Bobby, you okay?" I went to the coffee pot and poured some coffee, refilling Bobby's empty cup as he sat there, probably trying to figure out the best way to answer my question without letting me know anything.

In the end though, he nodded, and took a sip from his coffee. I did the same, looking over the cup at him, "I'm alright. What about you, you weren't in your bedroom this morning when I came to get you to turn that shit that was playing down."

"I was staying in Jackie's room for the night. It was quite comfortable." I laughed slightly and placed my cup down on the table, "So…where do you think we should start?"

Bobby sighed, "I don't think that this is going to be a _we_ situation."

"Excuse me Bobby? I want to catch these assholes just as much as the four of you do. And I'm not going to be waiting on the sidelines for you to catch 'em." I glared at him and took another sip from the coffee cup.

"I know, but I don't think it'd be very helpful if you got hurt immediately. Jack would freak." Bobby replied, ignoring my glare.

"Why would I freak?"

Jack walked into the kitchen with a yawn. He was wearing the same pajama pants as last night and was still shirtless as he sat down beside me, waiting for one of us to answer.

Bobby looked at me, "Danny here thinks we're going to let her help us find the thugs that killed ma."

"Danny knows for a fact that you guys are going to let her help." I cut in with a sigh, "You guys aren't going to tell me otherwise, I'm a grown up now, you can't just boss me around like you did when we were kids."

Jack sighed, "Do we really have to talk about this right now?"

"Yes. I'm going to help you guys find these losers." My face held a determined expression, they weren't going to say no to me this time, this was important to me.

As they looked at me though, I watched as their expressions changed. Knowing that I wasn't going to give up on this, there was no way that they were going to change my mind, and they knew this, so we let it drop. It wasn't like they were going to be able to do anything about me anyway, I'd follow them anywhere even if they didn't want me too.

We sat in silence then and I stared down at my coffee cup, tracing the opening with my finger as I thought over what I would say to them the next time they tried to stop me from coming. I understood why they were reacting like that, none of them wanted to see me hurt, it was obvious…but they weren't going to keep me out of this one. It wasn't something that I was going to allow them to do.

I stood up then, moving to the fridge to pull out something to eat for breakfast, I was starving, like I always seemed to be in the mornings. I pulled out some eggs and walked over to the stove.

"Do you guys want any eggs? I can only make 'em scrambled…but, they're pretty good."

"I'll take some." Jack answered. He smiled at me and I stretched to one of the cupboards, my nightgown lifting up over my shorts as I stood on my tip toes trying to reach it.

Jack laughed at me as I barely reached it, and tried to peer in, looking for some garlic salt. I sighed, defeated, "Can one of you losers help me instead of laughing?"

Bobby snorted and Jack stood up, "What are you trying to get?"

"Garlic salt."

He looked for a moment and then handed me the tube, closing the cupboard for me, "Do you need anything else before I go sit down?"

I punched him with my free arm and he pulled me into him and laughed before letting me go and grabbed a pan from one of the bottom cabinets and handing it to me. I set it on the stove and grabbed a bowl before cracking the eggs into it and filling it with milk and pouring some of the garlic salt into it.

Bobby and Jack talked quietly as I worked and we both turned slightly as Angel walked down the stairs.

"Morning Douche bag." I smiled angrily at him.

He rolled his eyes at me in return, "Come on, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't turn back time Angel." I shrugged and went back to cooking the eggs.

"So I thought you couldn't cook." Bobby turned to me before Angel could retort to my comment.

I laughed, "This is the only thing I know how to cook. They're pretty good if I do say so myself, but I suppose it's pretty hard to screw up scrambled eggs."

"Yeah, it is…so don't screw them up Danny."

"Screw you Bobby."

I laughed again and then turned back to the stove, pushing around the eggs.

"_**Danny?" Bobby opened the door as Jack and I stood on the front porch.**_

_**I was leaning on Jack, my eyes were red and I probably looked as horrible as I felt. Jack had his arm around my waist and he was supporting most of my weight as I we stood there. I hadn't wanted to leave my house, I wanted to just wither and die in there because my mom was gone…maybe she would come back. There was a chance that she was just going to get some new clothes…or something.**_

"_**Danny," Bobby said my name again and I shook my head, not wanting to speak...not wanting to breathe.**_

_**Jack pulled me into the house, Bobby moving out of the way as Jack sat me down in the living room, and leaned down in front of me to look me in the eyes.**_

"_**Danielle, just breathe okay, everything is going to be okay alright." He put his hands on both sides of my face and I was forced to look at him, forced to stare into his blue eyes and feel the intensity of his stare.**_

_**I didn't want to look at him, I knew that if I continued to look at him I would do everything he asked, his eyes were my weakness something that I could never get over. I took a deep breath and Bobby came in, a worried expression on his face.**_

"_**Man what the hell happened?" He practically yelled, trying to get our attention.**_

"_**Her mom's gone Bobby." Jack didn't quit looking at me and I started sobbing again, something that seemed to scare Bobby, I didn't cry in front of people. Hell, I rarely cried at all.**_

_**I didn't know what to do, everything that I had been working so hard to protect was gone, there was nothing else left for me, I had nothing.**_

"_**Danny, you're going to be okay." Jack looked at me again, the same intense stare, as if saying this over and over was going to make it okay…as if it was going to make my mom come back.**_

_**I shook my head and Jack hugged me, pressing my face into his leather jacket, the scent cleared my head a little, it helped me think. The one thing I needed to do was find out how I was going to be able to keep up with a job and going to school without get overly stressed. That was the biggest thing.**_

_**I already had the house, so I wouldn't have to worry about having a place to stay. But I knew I wasn't ready to juggle a job and school at the same time. There was no way in hell I would be able to do that.**_

"_**Danny, just calm down."**_

_**With those simple words I did. I had a plan now, I knew what I needed to do and the first thing was going to be finding somewhere where I could get a job.**_

_**I nodded and Jack continued to look at me as if I might break, "You can stay here alright and everything is going to work out."**_

"_**No, it's fine Jack, I'm going to stay at my place."**_

"_**No you're not." Bobby interjected, his voice was angry and I flinched at the sound of venom in it as I tried to concentrate.**_

_**If they made me stay here, I could sneak out…I was pretty good at that, I knew how to get out of the second story room I was in without making too much noise. I knew where I could get a job, the local bar didn't care how old you were as long as you were good at the job and didn't complain about sleaze bags trying to grab your ass the whole time.**_

_**I could handle that…couldn't I?**_

"_**We'll tell ma when she gets home with Angel. She'll make sure everything is okay." Bobby spoke again and Jack looked at me, probably trying to figure out what was going through my mind, I wasn't looking at him or Bobby, instead I chose to stare at the upholstery on the couch I was sitting on, knowing that Jack would figure out what was going through my head right now.**_

I placed a plate down in front of the three boys and sat down besides Jack, already taking a bite of my eggs. The boys dug in, ignoring the heat of them as they chowed down. It was as if the whole family was back together again…maybe Evelyn was just asleep upstairs.

"It's kinda hot in here, I'm just gonna go outside and get some air." Angel stood up, pushing his empty plate away from him.

Bobby laughed, "You can smell that ass from down the street, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Angel tried to seem innocent, but it didn't exactly work.

"What do you mean 'what' man, you know 'what', man."

Jerry walked in then, looking at us, "You know she's got a girlfriend."

I snorted and Angel shot me a glare.

"She's got a boyfriend, she's got hard dick in her right now and she's screaming someone else's name and the last thing she's thinking about is your black ass."

All of us laughed except Angel who pushed his chair under the table roughly, "Why are you guys comin' at me with this. I told you I'm not going to go see that girl, and I'm **not**!"

He stomped outside and I let out another fit of giggle, they grew louder as Bobby continued making fun of him.

"Breathe Danny." Jack smiled over at me and laughed slightly as I had to gasp for air.

Jerry sat down where Angel had left, "What no eggs for me?"

"Here, you can have the rest of mine if you want them, I'm full."

I pushed my plate toward him and Jerry took them happily, eating them as we sat in silence.

I put my elbow on my table and let it hold up my hand tiredly to closed my eyes for a moment. I was still tired from yesterday, mostly because Jack had kept me up most of the night before, not that I blamed him, he had just lost his mom, and I knew better than most what that was like.

"Maybe you should go back to sleep Danny." Jack whispered in my ear.

I opened my eyes and shrugged, "I'm fine."

"You look exhausted." Jack said again, I shook my head and he laughed.

"Leave her alone Jack, you know she's more stubborn than any other person who lives here." Bobby commented.

I kicked him under the table and laughed, "Stop being an asshole Bobby."


	6. Chapter 6

I walked outside, a pair of ice skates in one hand and a hockey stick in the other. The boys followed me, La Vida Loca chose to stay at the house because she was annoyed with Bobby.

It was good to be with the guys again, about to go kick some ass on ice, I hadn't played hockey since I left Detroit mostly because it never snowed in LA, not that I minded that. Even though I hated the snow though, I did miss being able to play hockey with the Mercer brothers and take down the little brats that thought they were all so cool.

"Jeez, I might have to get comfortable on these skates again before we can play, I haven't been on the ice since I left here." I said, looking over at Jack, I had my sunglasses on and Jack was shielding out the sun as we walked side by side, it was really strange sometimes, how tall he was.

Bobby laughed from behind me, "They don't play hockey in the posh streets of LA do they?"

"LA is not posh, you have to know what you're doing there unless you want something bad for you. My friends and I don't go out at night alone because of it."

Bobby snorted, "By the way, what is up with that stupid necklace huh? Vampire fangs, that's stupid."

"You're stupid. Jack gave me the necklace when I graduated you jerk." I glared over at him and then pushed him, making him run into someone's car.

The brother's laughed at him and we came to the rink, kids were already playing there, and when we dropped our things to put our skates on, they stopped and came over.

"Are you guys going to play?" One kid asked, he looked at us with an annoyed expression as if this was some sort of members only rink.

I rolled my eyes, "What do you think kid? We just walked all the way over here with hockey sticks and ice skates?"

His face grew red and he skated away mumbling.

"You're so mean." Jack said.

I stood up and got onto the rink, wobbling slightly for a moment before moving a little to make sure I wouldn't fall while trying to play, "No, I'm blunt, there's a difference."

"Not really." Jack handed me my stick and laughed as I grabbed onto his arm to stop myself.

"Let's get this show on the road." Bobby got on the ice and pushed one of the kids as we all got lined up to play.

"_**Hey is anyone home?" I knocked on Miss Evelyn's door as I sat down my skates and my hockey stick.**_

_**It had been a long day and my mom had just gotten home from being laid off, I didn't want to risk crossing paths with her today when she had such a short fuse right now. She was a lot angrier than usual having been laid off and as a result me just walking on the floor above the living room got me into trouble.**_

_**I also wanted to play hockey, but I needed a team for that one, and the Mercer brother's would be the perfect team.**_

"_**Stop knocking." Bobby yelled from the other side of the door.**_

_**I laughed at him as it opened, revealing a shirtless Bobby, "Dude, put a shirt on man, no one wants to see that."**_

"_**Just admit you like it Danny, it'd make you feel better if you did."**_

_**I snorted and pushed past him and into the house, taking my skates and stick with me.**_

"_**What's up?" Bobby followed me into the living room and we sat down.**_

_**I shrugged, "My mom got laid off and she's in a bad mood, so I decided to come over here and see if you guys wanted to go play hockey because I have nothing better to do."**_

"_**Hockey?" Jack walked down the stairs and I smiled over at him.**_

"_**Exactly, I want to kick Bobby's ass."**_

_**Bobby snorted, "Yeah right, I'm ten times better than you are at hockey girl, maybe you should think about that before you start saying you can beat me."**_

"_**I have before." I raised an eyebrow and Bobby glared back at me.**_

"_**You're going to lose this time." He stood up and went to walked up the stairs to get changed and grab his stuff for the game.**_

"_**So why'd your mom get laid off?" Jack sat down beside me on the couch and I looked over at him, looking into the ocean that was his eyes.**_

_**I shrugged, "I think it had to do with her getting drunk while working, but I don't know, I've been avoiding her because she isn't in a good mood about it and I don't feel like getting yelled at right now."**_

"_**That makes sense." Jack nodded and stood up then, walking upstairs to get his stuff to.**_

_**I followed him, leaving my hockey things downstairs as I went into his room, "You know, you should really think about decorating in here. It's like no one lives here."**_

_**I leaned on the door frame and crossed my arms as he turned around with a startled look, "Oh, yeah I guess you're right. I just haven't stayed in a house long enough, so I'm not really sure how to decorate it."**_

"_**That's where I can help you, all you need is a few posters of your favorite bands, maybe some naked chicks, that just seems to be what a lot of guys seem to like now-a-days, I don't know if you would like that exactly…but, I dunno, maybe." I laughed, unsure of his reaction, I sort of hoped he didn't get the impression that I thought he was gay, because I really didn't really think he was. I actually hoped that he wasn't because Bobby sure seemed to tease him about it a lot.**_

_**Jack didn't seem to take that as me thinking he was gay though and he smiled, "Naked chicks…no I think I'm good, but band posters would be nice. Do you have any that I could borrow?"**_

"_**Actually yes I do. I get them to you tomorrow, mainly because I don't really want to go back to my house right now."**_

_**He nodded, understandingly, "That would be awesome."**_

_**I smiled, "Great."**_

We were beating the kids by ten points and we took a break for a moment. I sat down on the ice and took off one of my skates to rub my ankle. After I broke it when I was a kid it still gave me a little trouble sometimes.

Jack skated in front of me on the ice and leaned down, staring at me as I continued to mess with my ankle, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Although that kid is about to get knocked out if he tries to push me down again."

We laughed, "Don't be to mean."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." I smiled and put my skate back on and grabbed his hand as he pulled me up.

I fell into him slightly and I smiled up at him as he blushed a bit.

I pushed hair out of his eyes again, "You should really get a haircut, it keeps falling in your eyes."

"Like yours doesn't." he laughed at me and I made a face at him.

"Shut up Jackie." I pushed him away and began skating again, Jack racing me as we reached the end of the rink and turned to race back.

"You're legs are longer than mine, stop cheating." I yelled at him.

He laughed in response, "It's not cheating if I can't help it."

"Yeah, whatever," I pushed him slightly and he tripped up a little before catching himself and stopping in front of me.

I crashed into him and he kept me from falling with a laugh, "You really need to learn how to stop."

"You stopped right in front of me, dude, what the heck?" I hit him in the arm and smiled.

The jerk shouldn't have been commenting on my stopped ability when he randomly decided to jump in front of me.

"Hey, can we start the game again you to, or are you going to continue being stupid?" Bobby yelled over at us.

I looked behind me and flipped him off before moving to grab my stick as the game picked up where we left off.


	7. Chapter 7

I opened the door to Miss Evelyn's house laughing as Bobby made fun of Jerry. Unsurprisingly, The Mercer's and I beat the kids in our little hockey match, I finally got to deck the annoying kid, and it had been a pretty good day.

"Hey Danny, next time you deck a kid, make sure you don't kick him in the balls next time." Bobby yelled at me as I walked up the stairs to my room, shaking snow out of my hair as I went.

I laughed, "I wouldn't have done both if he hadn't been a prick. I hate brats that think they're better than everyone. That kid probably can't even play guitar."

I came back downstairs again and sat down on the couch where Jack was sitting, his feet propped up on the table, the TV was on some basketball game and I leaned into Jack, with a yawn.

I was tired from playing hockey with the guys, but I wasn't going to sleep, they still had to go see Miss Evelyn's lawyer and then we were going to have Thanksgiving dinner. This holiday wasn't going to be the best, but at least we were all going to be together for the first time in four or five years. I knew though that it was bound to be a bit awkward.

"So, if we go play hockey again, we need to make sure that you don't deck someone again." Jack said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes, "I already told you, the kid was being annoying. I don't handle annoying people well."

"Obviously." Jack scoffed and put his arms around my shoulders without thinking as Bobby started yelling at Angel.

"Man she ain't staying here another day."

They were up in each other's faces, talking about Sofi as Bobby hit a puck in the house.

I leaned closer into Jack, closing my eyes slightly as the yelling just got louder.

"Angel why do you let him talk to me like that?" Sofi yelled down.

"Because I speak-a the Spanish!" Bobby yelled back.

I sighed, "Could you guys just shut the hell up please. We have to leave soon anyway, get over it."

"Stay out of this Danielle, I'm taking care of this."

I opened my eyes and stood up annoyed, "No Bobby, you're being obnoxious."

Bobby ignored me and started yelling at Angel again as I walked outside and crossed over to the swing set.

"Danny, wait up."

I didn't stop as Jack quickly caught up to me and sat down on one of the swings. I had a flash of when we would sit here when we were kids. Both worrying about what was going to be happening the next day, if I was going to be getting hit by my mom or if Jack was going to have to find another home because he thought there was a small chance that she really didn't want him.

We had talked about it all right here years ago, no secrets. We knew each other's baggage, it helped Jack get settled here at first because he was so scared that Evelyn's house was going to be just like the rest of them, but it wasn't and then he saw that I was the one that needed a bit of help. It was what kept us close.

_**I walked outside my house, listening to the sound of my mom's car as she pulled out of the driveway. She turned to look at me but there was no wave, no acknowledgement that I was even sitting on the swing. It was like I was invisible to her nowadays since Phil came into the picture, not that I particularly minded, but now that I was invisible to her Phil seemed to enjoy taking his anger out on me, asshole.**_

"_**Hey Danielle." Jack walked over to the swing and I looked down at the ground and he stood in front of me as I moved my hair, covering my neck from my mom's boyfriend's rage.**_

_**My mom's current boyfriend was worse than her last one, and if I had known my father I would had judged the last guy by her ex-husband. This guy was sleazy, with greasy hair that wasn't from hair gel and he always had this creepy smile on his face like he was sexy or something. The guy really wasn't and the only reason my mom was dating him was because he said that he had money, I was a bit skeptical of that statement, mostly because I had never seen him get his ass off of our couch.**_

_**The guy also had a temper much worse than my mom's. Whereas my mom only hit me when she was drunk, Phil was always angry over something. Whether it be my mom's cooking or my mom's smoking habits, he was always pissed off about her and was always trying to hit her. Me being the loving daughter that she never deserved jumped in front of her once and ever since then, I'd been taking the brute of the force. Thankfully, the Mercer's didn't know about him yet because if they did, Bobby was sure going to kill him.**_

"_**Danny?" Jack spoke again and I looked up, biting my lip, I knew that the bruise on my check was still visible and the small cut on my lip that I was trying to cover up was going to be visible any second.**_

_**Jack looked at me and grabbed my hand, kneeling down to my level, "What happened?"**_

"_**Nothing." I stopped myself from shaking my head and forced a smile.**_

_**Obviously, he wasn't convinced and he put his hand on the bruise that rested on my cheek, I flinched back at the touch, "Tell me what happened."**_

_**He spoke quietly, staring at me and then ran his finger over my cheek, being careful of the bruise now as he tried to get me to speak.**_

_**I on the other hand wanted to curl up into a ball and just break down. I just didn't know how I could handle living like that anymore, I didn't have the strength to keep dealing with it anymore.**_

_**He continued staring into my eyes, making me get lost for a moment, there was something about his eyes that could do that to me, something about the endless hurt that he had endured over the first several years of his life, things had happened to him that would make even the strongest of people break.**_

_**I shook my head then without thinking and he pushed the rest of my hair off the large hand shaped bruise on my neck. He looked angry, angrier than I had ever seen him and I knew that I should have just stood up then and walked back into my house where Phil was probably getting ready to leave.**_

_**Just as I thought this, Phil walked outside, his greasy hair slicked back and he was wearing some cheap looking suit and tie, trying to look official as he slinked off to some worthless job where he was just another worthless person.**_

_**Jack glared at him as we watched him walk to his car.**_

"_**Who the hell are you?" Phil yelled over at us, staring back at Jack without a care, as if the glare he was giving him didn't want to make him sink into the ground.**_

"_**I'm a friend of Danielle's who the hell are you?"**_

_**Phil looked annoyed for being spoken to like that, but he knew better than to cause harm to someone outside where people could see him, "I suggest you go back to your house, Danielle here's had quite the attitude problem lately."**_

"_**So you hit people with attitude problems?" Jack shot back at him.**_

_**And angry look flashed on Phil's face and I flinched back, wanting to sink into the snow, "You better watch what you accuse people of, you can get them into trouble."**_

"_**You should watch where you swing your damn fists."**_

_**Phil growled slightly and then got into his car without another word, slamming the door to his shitty car as he did so, and then backed out of the driveway, speeding through the icy streets.**_

_**Jack turned back to me then, "Who the hell was that?"**_

"_**My mom's current boyfriend."**_

"_**What happened?"**_

_**He wanted an answer, something that would help get me out of the house, but I knew I couldn't give him one, it was my mom, there was no way that I was going to let myself be taken away from her…she was all that I had left that kept me tied to a family.**_

"_**Nothing happened Jack, just please, leave it alone." I shook my head and then got off the swing, surprised that he actually let me.**_

"_**Is your mom home?" Jack let it drop and I gave him a small appreciative smile.**_

"_**No, she's at work now."**_

_**Jack nodded, "Good, now go inside and get some clothes, you're staying with us for a while."**_

"_**Says who?" I asked defensively. I didn't like being told what to do, especially by people that were only about seven months older than me.**_

_**Jack sighed, "Please go pack some clothes, I really would feel a lot better if you stayed with us for a while…at least until that guy leaves."**_

_**I looked at him, his eyes pleading for me to say yes. Looking into those eyes, I knew I couldn't say no, there was no way I could deny him anything if he looked at me like that, so in the end, I sighed and nodded, leading him into my house.**_

"Danny, you okay?" I looked up, staring at Jack.

"Yeah, why?"

Jack smiled, "I don't know, you just looked a bit pale."

"I dunno, I just can't help being here without thinking about how things would have been different if my mom hadn't left. I mean, I doubt they would have ended very well for me, but I just can't figure out why she left…why she left me without saying goodbye or anything."

He sighed, "I think everything worked out the way they did for the best Danielle. I mean, you could have died with Phil living with you guys, I mean you were sent to the hospital right before they did leave because of that prick."

"But she was my mom, I mean she wasn't perfect, I know that…in fact she was probably on like the top ten list of world's shittiest moms…but that doesn't change anything. She was still my mom, and she still left me like I didn't mean anything to her." I sighed and put my head in my hands.

I heard as Jack got off the swing beside me and then lifted up my chin, forcing me to look at him in the eyes, "Everything that happened, happened for the best okay Danny. I don't know what the hell was going through her mind when she left, but if she didn't leave you wouldn't still be here. And how the fuck would I be able to go through this without you here huh? There is no way you're allowed to get like this about your mom because I almost lost you with her."

I looked at him, my eyebrow scrunching together and Jack used his finger to smooth out the wrinkles, "What would I have done if I had lost you Danielle? I mean you were there for me when I needed you…and you still seem to be, and I get that you need someone to be there for you to…you're just to afraid to do that. But you need to understand that I'm here for you alright…Bobby, Jerry, Angel and I are all here for you."

"Okay."

"No, not okay Danielle. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Jack looked at me, this intense look in his eyes and I knew that this had to be hard for him to say, he didn't express his feelings…every time he had done that in the past it seemed like it came back to punch him in the face.

So I knew that what he just said I should cling to, I should hold onto it and get over myself.

"I understand Jackie."

He smiled then, "Good, now let's go, it's freezing out here and we have to go see mom's lawyer."

He pulled me off the swing and we walked back to the house where Bobby, Angel, and Jerry were waiting for us.


	8. Chapter 8

I got into Jerry's car, preferring the safety of his Volvo to Bobby's beat up piece of junk that Bobby chose to drive. Jack and Bobby followed the example and piled into the backseat with me as we drove to Miss Evelyn's lawyer's office.

"So, are you guys sure that I should be coming to this. I mean this is your mom."

Bobby rolled his eyes, "She's as much your mom as she is ours Danny, just because she didn't officially adopt you doesn't mean she wasn't like one to you."

I opened my mouth again to speak by Jack shook his head, stopping me from trying to get out of it. It's not that I didn't want to go, it was more the fact that I felt that I was intruding on something that the brothers needed to do, there was nothing in there for me, but not one of them seemed to mind.

As Jerry parked, I got out of the car and left the door open for Jack to come out behind me. His hair was slicked back and I scrunched my nose, "Hold on Jack, I'm fixing your hair."

"What?"

Jack stepped back, meeting the Volvo behind him. I stood on my tiptoes and reached up, messing his hair up, "Hair gel, really? This is disgusting."

I wiped the grease onto his shirt and then messed with it again, making sure that it wouldn't fall back into that slick thing as the other three brothers watched, waiting for me to finish so we could walk inside.

"Damn Danielle, what was wrong with my hair?" he asked as we started walking, following Jerry through the building and up the stairs to the sixteenth floor.

The floor was decorated with a lot of red. There was a red velvet carpet, red chairs, and even a red table that had a bunch of magazines. We sat down in the waiting room as the lawyer spoke with another client and I picked up a tabloid, flipping through the pages and reading random articles. I liked this, it was something that I had done when I was a kid, looking to the tabloids to learn that I wasn't the only one that had issues.

I jiggled my foot impatiently as the secretary popped her gum and flipped another magazine page. She was some bleach blonde chick with too tan skin. She was only about seventeen and she just seemed like the type of girl who should be working at a hair salon, not a lawyer's office.

We all looked in different directions as the secretary continued to pop her gum loudly repeatedly. It was quite annoying and eventually when she stood up to finally let us into the room where the lawyer was setting down a safety deposit box on the table beside him.

"Hello." The lawyer gave us a half-hearted smile as he introduced himself and asked us to sit down.

We did as he instructed and listened as he explained the legal matters that were involved with Miss Evelyn's death. He clasped his hands on the table in front of him.

"I know it can be rough dealing with financial business after the loss of a love one." The lawyer continued on, he looked down at his hands.

"How much do we get?"

Bobby smacked him in the back of the head, "Shut up Jack."

"What he means, is thank you." I cut in, smiling at Mr. Bradford as he stood up and placed the safety deposit box in front of us.

I leaned back, letting Bobby open the box as Mr. Bradford left the room to let us go through Miss Evelyn's things. Bobby handed Jerry and Jack their birth certificates and adoption papers, shifting through it to find his and Angels.

As he sifted through, Bobby handed me a piece of paper, "What are you doing?"

"It's got your name on it Danny, take it."

I looked at the paper now and opened it, staring down at my own birth certificate. My mother's name sprung up at me, Alison Karen Queen, and beside it my father's name, the man I had never met was sitting on the line in neat block print, Peter Daniel Love.

I stared at the name, slowly comprehending what this meant, I could find my dad, the guy that my mom had ran away from all those years ago.

"What's that?" Jack leaned over, looking down.

"It's my birth certificate. I was named after my dad, man."

Bobby laughed slightly, "What an honor."

"That's what I'm saying."

Bobby shook his head and then reached inside the box again, pulling out a wad of cash and we stood up as Bobby counted the money and handed the bills to Angel and Jerry.

"What about me?" Jack looked at Bobby annoyed as he handed him a necklace.

"Here, that'll look good on you."

I hid a smile and then stuffed my birth certificate in my pocket as we thanked Mr. Bradford and then left the office building, going out into the cold open Detroit air as we continued walking.

"Come on, I have something I wanna show ya'll." Jerry led us down the street, walking us toward an abandoned set of buildings.

…

The place was a dump, everything was run down and the graffiti that covered the walls was covered in grime. Glass from the broken windows covered the floor and made crunching sounds as we walked.

At one point this place was probably one of the coolest buildings ever, but now that it seemed ransacked, it sort of sucked.

"So what the hell are you planning to do here Jerry?" I asked stepping around a puddle of some unknown substance.

Jerry laughed, "Well, this here's going to be store fronts and-"

Jerry continued talking but I tuned him out, choosing to ignore as Bobby and Angel made fun of him. I could actually see what Jerry wanted here, but Bobby was right, Jerry wasn't gonna be able to get the money for this, it was going to cost a fortune just to fix the place up, let alone get store fronts in here.

"Hey Danny, you okay?" Bobby caught up to me and I looked at him and realized that I had been clutching the birth certificate in my pocket as we walked, trying to figure out why my father never tried to contact me.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit surprised that I was named after my dad you know."

"Makes sense." Bobby nodded too, "Danny, you know there's a directory where you can see if your dad's still alive right."

"I'm from Tennessee Bobby, I highly doubt Detroit is going to have his records. Plus if he was alive what would I say huh? Oh hi there, I'm the kid that you never bothered to take care of, thanks a lot asshole, I could've used you in my life."

Bobby grimaced, "I wouldn't exactly put it like that."

"How would you put it Bobby?" I raised an eyebrow as he laughed.

"I actually wouldn't know."

I made a face and pushed him with my shoulder, "It doesn't matter anyway."

"You make it seem like it matters Danielle, that's all I'm saying. I know you want to know who your dad is. Hell, I'd kill to know who my dad was, and you have a name, you need to look into it." Bobby took a sip from the beer he was carrying and pushed my shoulder before walking over to Jerry and Angel.

I walked to the opposite wall, looking at some of the graffiti as Bobby laughed from behind me.

"Look Jerry, look at your little brother man."

I didn't turn around as I spotted the graffiti I was looking for. It was a bunch of bubbles coming out of a caterpillar's pipe, something I'd helped make back in the day.

"Oh I'm sorry, is this the master suite? Am I making the property value go down?"

I smiled and then turned around as Angel laughed about something looking like boobs, "Dude, you're an idiot."

Angel stopped laughing and Bobby threw his beer on the floor and then came over to me, "What the hell is that?"

"It's the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. I helped draw this." I smiled, it was covered in grime, but the picture still looked pretty amazing.

"You really spray painted a caterpillar."

"He was like the coolest Alice character man, come on."

Bobby rolled his eyes, "Come on, let's go get some real beer."

_**I stood up as someone knocked on the door, seeing Bobby at the door. I smiled and then led him into my house, going into the living room to pick up my coloring book and crayons. Bobby leaned down and began helping me pick them up when he noticed that I wasn't moving my left hand.**_

"_**What happened there huh?" he asked.**_

_**I looked away, "I fell."**_

"_**Would you please tell me the truth for once Danielle?" he asked, I looked over at him and shook my head, turning slightly when I heard my mom come into the room.**_

"_**What are you doing here?" My mom's voice was sharp, already clouded with a Captain Morgan as she walked toward us.**_

_**Bobby stood up, keeping himself in front of me as I followed him, "I'm taking her over to my mom's house for the night. She said that you were working tonight, and I figured that she might want to come over early."**_

_**He was using that even tone of voice that said he really didn't like who he was talking to and I watched as my mother's face changed from annoyance to disgust.**_

"_**And you come in here without asking me? That's pretty rude."**_

"_**No, what's rude is drinking in front of an eight year old and expecting your daughter to take care of herself."**_

_**I tugged at Bobby's hand wanting to leave before my mom really lost it. If she hit Bobby he was going to freak out on her, he already kind of was.**_

_**He looked back at me and smiled, "Come on let's go. We need to check out your wrist."**_

"_**You're not going anywhere with her." My mother said outraged as Bobby situated me in front of him as we walked outside the house, my mom following us as she tried to grab my hand.**_

"_**Danielle get your stupid ass back in here." She yelled.**_

_**I shrunk into Bobby as he yelled back at her.**_

"_**Hey lady, watch your mouth."**_

_**I held onto his hand scared of what my mom might do, she was angry, angrier than I had seen her in a long time. She threw the Captain Morgan bottle on the floor and moved to grab my arm. I flinched back from her touch and Bobby backed away, keeping me out of her grasp.**_

"_**Danielle Jacqueline Love get inside now!" my mom shrieked, I looked around, seeing the faces of neighbors staring out their windows at us and I bit my lip, embarrassed.**_

"_**Look lady, Danielle's staying with us until you get your shit together. Don't even think of coming to get her until then, you got that?" Bobby turned and we walked away, I looked up seeing him flip my mom off as she screamed again before he stopped suddenly and picked me up, walking us quickly to the front porch where Jerry, Angel, and Jack sat watching the procession.**_

"_**Hey Danielle, you alright?" Angel held the door open for Bobby and I looked at him, staying quiet for once in my shock, no one had even yelled at my mom, and Bobby doing it scared me…I wasn't used to it and I knew that my mom was infuriated.**_

"_**No she's not alright man. I think her mom broke her damn wrist." Bobby answered for me.**_

_**I put my face in his shoulder blade and he walked me inside the house where the air conditioning was on full blast so keep everyone cool from the hot summer air.**_

"_**Ma?" I looked up as Bobby walked inside the living room where Miss Evelyn sat on the couch knitting during **_**Days of Our Lives.**

_**She looked up, stopping mid-loop and set the needles down as Bobby sat me down, "I think her mom broke her wrist."**_

"_**Let me look at it Bobby." Miss Evelyn stood up and leaned down, taking my left hand and turning it over, I sucked in breath as she moved it and bit my lip as Bobby looked at me, that familiar angry look in his eyes.**_

_**I forced myself to look away and saw Jack looking at me, his arms were crossed, his white cast almost getting lost in his pale skin, and he looked just as angry as Bobby. I couldn't understand why he was so angry though, maybe it was just because it reminded him of his past, but I didn't have any way of knowing. It's not like I was going to ask him, that would be rude and I didn't want to seem that way.**_

_**I wanted Jack to like me…I wanted him to feel comfortable around me and I knew that asking him questions like that wouldn't help because he didn't want to remember his past, just like Miss Evelyn had said when he first came here.**_

"_**We need to take her to the emergency room, hopefully it's just a sprain." Miss Evelyn stood up and turned to Jack, "Would you like to come with us Jackie?"**_

_**He nodded and I stood up, taking Bobby's hand as he led me and Jack outside again.**_

"_**We're taking Danielle to the emergency room. Can you guys make sure her mom doesn't come over here please."**_

_**They nodded and then he brought us to the car where he helped me in and fastened my seat belt as Jack got in on the other side.**_

_**Jack looked over at me as Bobby stood outside, talking to Miss Evelyn, "Why don't you tell anyone?"**_

_**I looked over at him, surprised, Jack hadn't spoken in the three days that he'd been here and his voice was gruff from not being used in quite sometime .**_

"_**I don't know what you're talking about." My voice grew even higher than normal.**_

_**He shook his head, and suddenly seemed much older than eight years old, with everything he'd been through it made sense for him to have an older soul. He had to be grown up at foster homes. But it scared me a little, I wasn't used to kids my age sounding like that it.**_

"_**I still think you should tell someone."**_

_**I nodded and looked away as Bobby and Miss Evelyn got inside the car. As we started moving, I felt something gently grab my hand, trying not to jostle my wrist. I looked over at Jack, trying to understand what he was doing, but he was looking out the window beside him, acting as if nothing was wrong.**_

"Here's to Evelyn Mercer. The sweetest woman five degenerate bastards have ever known." Bobby raised his glass and the four of us did the same, shooting down the whiskey quickly before slamming the glasses down.

"Hey pour me and my siblings another drink, and I nice warm milk for my little sister."

Jack scoffed, "Man, I will drink you under the table."

"We're talking about whiskey here Jackie, not sperm."

I snorted and drank down another shot of whiskey, enjoying the burn of alcohol going down my throat.

"Hey, take it easy there Danny." Bobby pulled the glass from my hand and shot him a dirty look as we moved to a table.


	9. Chapter 9

"Jack drinks Jack. Jack drinks Jack."

I laughed at Jack from across the table as he drunkenly sang into his glass of Jack Daniels.

"Look at that man, look at your little brother." Jerry shook his head over at Jack.

Bobby sighed, taking another sip of his own drink, "Jack likes ass-crack and ball-sack."

"Jack does not like ass-crack and ball-sack! Jack likes boobs."

I closed my eyes and laughed as he continued, "Jack's got fans."

"Man would you shut up?" Angel shook his head, following Jerry's example.

We sat in silence for a moment and watched as the bartender, Johnny, came toward us.

"It's a real shame what happened to your mom guys." He said, crossing his arms, "Someone should really take care of those damn gangbangers around here."

Bobby sat back, "Which gangbangers Johnny?"

"Here we go. Mom always said that as bright as Bobby is, he just does not like to think."

Bobby rolled his eyes and Jerry stood up, leaving the four of us to sit at the table waiting for Johnny to continue. I leaned on the table, taking another sip as he began.

"Word around town is some kids playing basketball around the time your mom was killed. They said that they saw two black guys walk in and shoot up the place and run off."

"Do you know where those kids might be?" I asked looking up at Johnny expectantly.

He nodded, "In that old run down building just past the courts."

"Thanks." We all stood up and went to walk outside to where Bobby's car sat.

"Hey Angel you gotta gun?"

"No man I flew in."

Bobby popped the trunk of his car and handed him a gun, pulling out two others, I grabbed the smaller one from his hand.

"Thanks."

"No, I don't trust you with that. Danny, don't fool around give it back."

"I've shot a gun before Bobby shut up."

We got in the car and Angel stared at the gun Bobby had given him.

"Be careful with my baby."

Angel nodded and Bobby started the car, speeding to our destination.

"_**So you're sure you just fell Danielle?" The nurse asked me again.**_

_**I sighed and nodded, my eight year old patience wearing thin, "Yes ma'am. I tripped down the stairs."**_

_**I looked past her to where Jack was sitting, shaking his head as he flipped through a magazine, trying to seem bored.**_

_**The nurse looked over at Miss Evelyn then, "Well, it's just a sprain, we're going to wrap it up and I want you Danielle," she turned back to me again, "to keep it elevated, you can't jostle it too much or the sprain could get much worse alright."**_

_**I nodded and she walked out of the room to get some gauze. As she shut the door, Bobby sighed and stood up to ruffle my hair, "Come on Danielle, you have to tell someone."**_

"_**I don't know what you're talking about." I looked at him and shook my head and Bobby rolled his eyes.**_

"_**You're too stubborn for your own good."**_

_**I smiled at him as the nurse walked back in, carrying gauze and something else in her hand, it was blue and I wasn't quite sure what it was for. Bobby moved out of the way as the nurse grabbed my hand lightly, being careful not to jostle it as she wrapped the gaze around my wrist.**_

"_**Alright Danielle, this here is a sling, you're going to have to keep your arm in here until you go to sleep tonight and you have to put it back on when you wake up alright." She smiled as she helped me put it on. I didn't really like her smile, it reminded me of how my mom smiled when she was trying to convince people that she wasn't lying. I didn't like it so I made a face and looked away from her, toward Jack, he looked back at me, a curious look on his face now that I had made a face at the nurse.**_

"_**There we go Danielle. Miss Mercer, we'll need to see her back here in about three weeks to see how her wrist is doing, but other than that, Danielle should be fine."**_

_**Miss Evelyn nodded, "Thank you."**_

_**The nurse nodded and walked out of the room and I went to jump down off the bed thing that I was sitting on, but Bobby helped me off before I could.**_

"_**You're gonna make your wrist worse Danielle."**_

_**I stuck my tongue out at him and walked out of the hospital room after Miss Evelyn, Bobby and Jack following close behind.**_

Bobby parked his car and got out, pulling the seat up for me so I could get out after him and then handed me a flash light.

"We're gonna pretend to be cops really?"

"Exactly Danny, and I thought you were so naïve."

"Shut up."

We walked into the abandoned building, Jack holding the crowbar and the gas can that Bobby had given him as Bobby, Angel, and I flipped on our flashlights and stormed deeper into the building.

"Detroit police everyone get the hell out of here." Bobby yelled.

We moved our guns around, the flashlights going into the kid's eyes as they began running, hoping not to get arrested by three phony cops.

"The popos is here! Ya'll better run, man, these white cops are crazy! They killed Cornbread! They killed him - he didn't do nothin'!."

We chased them to a separate door and looked out as Bobby yelled, trying to sound like a school girl as we watched them run away. Jack followed close behind as we walked through the doorway and into another room filled with plastic.

"Detroit PD, put your hands up." I yelled. Everyone in the room stopped dancing and one kid pushed some chick off of his lap.

"Now everyone go sit down. Bobby walked to the kid in the chair and Angel and I pushing some kids onto a couch before going to help Bobby.

"Alright now I have some questions for you and you better answer them kid." Bobby yelled.

The kid looked annoyed, "Ya'll ain't PD, who the hell are you?"

"This isn't the talking time. This is the time for me to ask you questions and for you to shut the hell up."

Bobby took the kerosene can out of Jacks hands and stuffed a rag into the kid's mouth. He continued trying to speak through the gag.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I looked up and saw Angel yelling at some chick.

"It's warm right here." She yelled back.

Good she had an annoying voice.

"Go sit your ass down."

Angel took the gas can from Bobby and poured it on everyone sitting on the couch.

"Yo what the-"

"Hey watch your mouth." I yelled before she could finish.

She glared over at me and I raised an eyebrow as Bobby continued talking.

"Alright, now I wanna know what you saw playing basketball a week ago. And if you don't give me a satisfying answer you're gonna regret it."

He pulled the gag out of the guy's mouth, "Now's the talking time now answer."

"What the fuck man! That shit was counterfeit as a mother-"

"Watch your mouth douchebag." I smacked him in the head and he turned around.

"Bitch."

"Don't test me kid, I'll kick your ass."

"What do you mean that it was counterfeit?" Bobby asked, pouring more gas on the kid, "Answer me or my little brother here is gonna light you on fire and I'm gonna watch as you run around like a chicken with its head cut off, lighting all your little friends here on fire."

Jack handed Bobby his lit cigarette and the kid kept his eyes on it as he spoke again.

"I mean that no one was there. The court lights cut off at ten."

Bobby nodded and picked the kid up, pushing him toward the open archway, "Yo, where the hell are we going?"

"We're going for a ride."

"_**Danielle, stop messing with your arm, you're gonna make it worse." Bobby yelled at me. He was in the other room and I looked up from trying to scratch at it.**_

_**The gauze crap was making my arm itch and it bugged me, but I couldn't understand how Bobby had known I was even moving it. I looked over at Jack then, he'd been really close lately, staying with me when Bobby wasn't around and getting me things when Bobby wouldn't let me get up because my arm wasn't in the sling. It was different than what I was used to him doing, but it was nice to know that he felt slightly comfortable around me.**_

"_**I wasn't doing anything Bobby." I called back, my voice grew higher as I lied and Bobby came back into the room shooting me an annoyed look.**_

"_**Don't lie to me Danielle."**_

_**I rolled my eyes at him and he carefully sat down on the couch on the other side of me, trying not to jostle my wrist. All the brothers had been extremely careful with me, it was like a freaking china doll, I seriously hated it.**_

"_**I wasn't lying to you." I retorted.**_

_**Bobby looked at me again, and messed my hair up with one hand, "Come on kid, I've known you for seven years, I know when you're lying. You're voice gets even higher than normal, if that's even possible."**_

"_**Shut up." I went to hit him with my right hand but he stopped it easily.**_

"_**Jesus Danielle, there was no power in that, come on."**_

"_**I'm eight what do you want from me?"**_

_**Jack laughed from my other side, flipping through another page in the book he was borrowing from me.**_

"_**Fairy."**_

_**I looked over at Bobby confused, "What?"**_

"_**Nothing." He shook his head and ruffled my hair again I swatted at his hand with my good hand, annoyed.**_

"_**Can we please change this? All that you guys ever watch is hockey. It's boring." I sighed, resisting the urge to throw my hands in the air, knowing that would probably get me into trouble.**_

_**Bobby looked at me surprised, I had never really complained about watching hockey, mostly because we were usually doing something else, but Bobby and his brothers weren't letting me do anything other than watch TV, and it was boring.**_

"_**Sure kiddo, what do you want to watch?"**_

"_**Cartoons."**_

"_**Seriously?"**_

_**I nodded and he sighed before changing the channel to Hey Arnold. Jack looked up from his book, curious to what was showing on the TV and I looked over at him.**_

"_**Have you ever seen this show before?"**_

_**He shook his head, he still wasn't talking much, like he still expected someone to hit him if he opened his mouth and I bit my lip, "Well it's really good. You'll like it."**_

_**He nodded then and closed the book, keeping his finger in it to save the page.**_

"It's 10:02 and the lights are still on." Bobby turned around and glared at the kid that Angel was holding by the collar, "Come on, let's go pop this guy now, I'm not in the mood for games."

"N-no, the lights are gonna turn off man, they're gonna turn off."

Angel turned the kid around and started walking off with him.

"Bobby calm down we can't just –"

"Shut up Jack."

"Damn it Bobby, stop it." I yelled at him. I stood in front of him, putting my hands on his chest. He towered over me, glaring at me intensely. If I hadn't known him well enough, I would have been afraid that he was going to hit me, but he didn't, he pushed me out of the way, roughly, but not rough enough to push me down. He was in one of those moods and I got that as he walked to the kid.

"Let's go."

The sounds behind us made the five of us turn around, watching the court lights turn off.

"See, I told you. I told you they'd turn off."

"Shut up man, you talk too much." Angel let the kid go and pushed him away.

Jack and I watched from a distance as Bobby and Angel continued to talk to the kid and I looked at the basketball court, staring at the lights.

"Come on you two, let's go home."

I turned to the sound of Bobby's voice and Jack and I followed him and Angel back to his car, leaving the kid complaining behind us.


	10. Chapter 10

"So what does this mean Bobby?"

We followed him inside and I watched as Jack and Bobby took their jackets off and walked into the kitchen.

"This means that that shooting wasn't just a robbery."

"Why would someone want to kill the sweetest God damn woman in the world?" Jack spread his hands, unsure.

"Man I guess I should have stayed around longer, made a man out of you Jackie."

Jack glared at him and Bobby continued.

"Look, sometimes shooters will cover up a killing with something like a robbery."

I walked up to them, crossing my arms, and leaned on the doorway, listening to them as Bobby continued to explain the way some hired guns worked.

"What the hell was that back there Bobby?" He looked over at me and sighed.

"I got carried away, I'm sorry."

"I could care less if you're sorry Bobby. We're searching for Miss Evelyn's killers, not becoming killers ourselves okay. That was a little outta control, even for you." I was angry, angry that he was just going to kill some random kid for lights turning off two minutes late. And Jack seemed to be a little shaken up from it, he still didn't like confrontations like that and Bobby should have known that. Jack didn't like confrontations with anyone, it was a result from all the foster homes he'd been in that had mentally hurt him.

Bobby nodded and I sighed, shaking my head, and walked upstairs and into my room. I closed the door to my room behind me and picked up my guitar case, opening it and pulling out my guitar, it was old, something that Miss Evelyn had gotten me for my thirteenth birthday it'd been signed by all the bands the bands that I'd gotten to see.

Rain on my Parade's signatures stood out, they had put their names in a little cloud, all using different colors unlike every other band that had used black sharpies. The lead singer Aries sort of reminded me of myself, with the exception of a abusive mother that walked out on her. Aries strove to get whatever she wanted and that was exactly what I wanted to be.

"Hey Danny, can I come in?"

I turned and opened the door, allowing Jack into my room. He looked at the guitar on my bed and smiled, picking it up to look at some of the signatures.

"My Chemical Romance?"

I looked at the name he pointed to and smiled, "Yeah, I caught them right as they were leaving a club in LA. It was amazing, they took me and some friends out for drinks."

"Jesus, you had drinks with My Chemical Romance, I am officially jealous." He sat the guitar back down and sat on my bed. I followed his example and leaned on him. I was tired, it had been a long day and I had a headache from all the whiskey that I had drank tonight.

"You okay?" He looked down at where my head rested on his shoulder.

"Yeah, just annoyed, Bobby's going to take this too far. That kid was disrespectful, but he went too far."

Jack nodded, "Yeah, but that's Bobby."

"It really isn't. That was too far even for him."

Jack shrugged and I lifted my head off his shoulders. We could hear Angel and Sofi talking next door and I rolled my eyes.

"Can I stay in your room again Jackie, I don't feel like listening to whatever they're about to do tonight."

He laughed and stood up, grabbing my hand and pulling me off the bed and into his room. His light was off, but neither of us bothered to turn it on as we sunk onto his bed.

_**I stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. My mom and I had just had a big blowout and my black eye had really set Bobby off. The twenty year old man had walked to my mother's house and yelled at her.**_

_**I could still see the expressions of the neighbors as Bobby yelled at her, not letting my mother getting a word in. I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face, I wasn't going to be going home for a while, my mom was furious, way more furious than normal and I didn't want to be in her proximity for a while.**_

_**I turned on my side and listened to the quiet outside, fidgeting a little. Everything was too quiet, it was unnerving…until a soft sob came from the room beside mine.**_

_**I stood up and tiptoed out of my room moving to Jack's, the door was opened and Bobby was leaning over him, about the shake him awake.**_

"_**Bobby don't." he turned to look at me.**_

"_**What the hell do you want me to do then Danny? He's freaking out."**_

"_**I'll do it. He probably won't like it if you touch him right now, it'll make it worse."**_

_**I gave Bobby a shove and looked down at the eleven year old boy. His back was turned to me and he was shaking from whatever nightmare he was experiencing right then.**_

"_**Hey Jackie." I placed my hand on his shoulder and shook him slightly, "Jackie, it's just a bad dream."**_

_**He sat up quickly when I touched him, his startled blue eyes finding mine in the darkness. Bobby stood in the doorway, watching as I sat down on his bed and hugged him. Jack was still crying, still trying to control himself in front of his older brother and me.**_

"_**Is there something I can do Danny?"**_

_**I shook my head, "No Bobby, just try and go back to sleep please, I doubt there's much you can do right now."**_

_**Bobby nodded and walked back to his own room, leaving Jack to sob into my shoulder, I was a lot smaller than him height wise, and Jack really had to lean down to get to my shoulder.**_

"_**Sh, Jack, everything's okay. You're safe now."**_

_**I kept whispering the same thing, repeatedly, waiting patiently for him to calm down. I had no idea what it felt like to have to go through something like what Jack had, having someone who was supposed to take care of you violate you in such a way that you didn't feel fit to be among normal people. Sometimes when I saw him I could still see the scared eight year old trying to hide behind Miss Evelyn and seem as small as possible. And he probably would have stayed that way for much longer if my mom hadn't started to get worse with her drinking. When I had hurt my hand, he'd gotten closer to me, just like the other two brothers after Bobby. They were afraid to get close to anyone until they noticed a little girl with everything to lose being abused by her mother, and they couldn't do anything about it, so they chose to get close to one another, trying to help when I was going through something that could turn my whole world upside down.**_

"_**Jackie, it's going to be okay."**_

_**His sobs died down slightly, "I-I'm sorry."**_

"_**Don't be sorry Jackie, its okay."**_

_**I stroked his hair as another wave of sobs rocked through him. I was glad that I wasn't tired, because I didn't think I could just leave Jack here, whatever he had been dreaming about had really scared him. I was curious about his dream, but I didn't want to ask, I didn't want to make him relive it for a third time.**_

"_**It's okay Jack."**_

"_**I d-don't want to g-go t-through it a-again…"**_

_**I bit my lip and ran my hand on his hair again, "Sweetie you don't have to."**_

_**Jack looked up at me then, surprised that I had called him sweetie. I was surprised to, I didn't mean that to come out either, but it was something Miss Evelyn had done for me when I was having a bad day, it was a reflex, something that came out without me thinking it through.**_

"_**I…sorry, Miss Evelyn used to say that to me, I didn't mean-"**_

"_**It's okay."**_

_**He gave me an extremely weak smile and wiped some tears of his face. He was trying to get a hold of himself, he was still a bit scared looking, his eyes holding a worse hurt than normal. I didn't think Jack liked the idea of me seeing him cry, but I think he was glad that I got Bobby out of here.**_

_**I grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.**_

"_**Are you gonna be alright?"**_

_**He looked down at our hands and I went to let his go, thinking he was uncomfortable, but as I went to pull away, he gripped mine tighter.**_

"_**I don't know right now."**_

_**He sighed and looked away and I bit my lip again.**_

"_**Do you want to talk about it?"**_

_**Jack shook his head and I gave him a small smile before standing up.**_

"_**Hey, are you alright?"**_

_**I looked back at him, "I-what do you mean?"**_

"_**You're eye…and you seemed pretty upset after you and Bobby got back from your mom's house."**_

_**I sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine."**_

"_**What happened?"**_

"_**I fell."**_

"_**What really happened?"**_

_**I went to walk away, shaking my head, but Jack pulled me back onto the bed, looking at me curiously.**_

"_**My mom got upset. She and her boyfriend just had a big blow out and he just left. So she started drinking earlier than usual."**_

"_**So she hit you in the eye?" Jack seemed annoyed, a Bobby-ish look came onto his face and I had to keep myself from laughing.**_

"_**That's not the reason exactly. She was accusing me of stealing something from her, which I didn't, and I didn't feel like being accused for something I didn't do, which was stupid. I talked back to her, and she wasn't in the mood to be talked back to."**_

_**I shrugged, it didn't really matter and I suddenly felt exhausted.**_

"_**That doesn't mean she should have hit you." Jack looked annoyed again and I bit my lip.**_

"_**It wasn't her fault. When she drinks she just gets angry…and I mean, it's just…"**_

_**I didn't know how to explain it to him, how to make him understand what I was saying. He just didn't get it and as I sat there, trying to explain it to him, I realized that maybe I didn't quite understand it myself. It was just what I'd been doing for so long. Everyone in this family was always asking why I didn't tell anyone, and I realized, then and there, that I didn't know myself, but I knew that I wasn't going to stop lying about it either.**_

"_**It's just what you're used to?" Jack finished for me.**_

_**I looked at him and he returned my gaze as we sat silently.**_

"_**Yeah, I guess that's part of the reason I put up with it."**_

_**I looked down then, staring at the hand Jack was holding. His hands were calloused from playing guitar, and his nails bit down to the quick just like mine were.**_

"_**I need to go to sleep. I have a feeling Bobby's going to walk us to school tomorrow to, he's pretty angry and my mom's not above trying to pick me up from school early."**_

_**Jack nodded and let my hand go, "Sorry for waking you up."**_

"_**I wasn't asleep anyway." I smiled at him and stood up again, walking back to my room and falling onto my bed.**_

"Hey Danny, wake up." I sat up and yawned as Jack put his hand on my shoulder.

Jack's blankets fell off me as I stood up, "What's going on?"

"Nothing Bobby told me to wake you up."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm going to kick his ass."

He laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of his room before I could go lay down again and dragged me down the stairs where Bobby was sitting, watching some hockey game.

"What the hell do you want Bobby?" I yawned again and flopped down beside Jack, I leaned into him closing my eyes. I wanted to sleep, we'd gotten back at eleven last night and it was too early to be awake right now.

Bobby stayed quiet until a commercial, "Well, I actually just thought that maybe you should wake up. I was thinking we could all go out to breakfast."

"It's too early in the morning." I complained, I kept my eyes closed and tried to lean even closer into Jack, soaking up his warmth.

"It's ten in the morning Danny, that's not early."

I opened my eyes and flicked him off, "Way too early for me."

I could practically hear Bobby roll his eyes and I closed my own again, laying my head on Jack's shoulder and grabbing his arm.

"Danny, wake the fuck up."

I grabbed the pillow before it hit me, knowing where the projectile was being aimed and threw the pillow back.

"Stop being an asshole Bobby." I sat up and rolled my eyes before standing up and walking into the kitchen and pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning fellow Mercers." Angel walked into the living room and sat down next to Jack again handing him a coffee cup and listening as Angel happily relayed some of last night's events to us.

"Man, I do _not _want to hear what you did with Sofi last night got that. I had to stay in Jack's room so I didn't have to listen to it." I cut in through his explanation, "You guys gotta remember there is a woman in this house."

Angel rolled his eyes, "Sorry, sorry."

"When are we meeting Jerry?" I asked, watching as some player punched another in the face.

We watched as the fight escalated and had to be stopped by the refs.

"We're meeting him at twelve thirty."

I nodded and laid my head down on Jack's shoulder again.

"_**Danny, come on wake up!"**_

_**Jack was shaking me, Bobby yelling behind him. I sat up quickly, thinking that something was wrong for a moment before I saw the balloons in Bobby's hands and sighed.**_

"_**It may be my birthday guys, but I would enjoy sleeping." I complained, laying back down and covering my head from the light.**_

_**The blankets were pulled off me and I rolled my eyes, "You guys suck."**_

"_**You're turning twelve Danny, that's big." Bobby nodded and grinned.**_

_**I rolled my eyes at him, "No, it'll be big when I turn thirteen because I'll be a teenager, turning twelve is nothing."**_

_**Bobby let the balloons go and I watched as they floated to the top of the ceiling, I rolled my eyes again, pushing past them to go downstairs.**_

"_**No hug Danny? And I came home specifically for this." Bobby yelled after me.**_

_**I turned, "Bobby, you woke me up, it's like eight in the morning, it's Saturday."**_

_**Bobby grinned again and I smiled, his grin was infectious, even to Jack who still didn't like to smile much.**_

"_**I missed you Bobby."**_

_**We hugged, "I missed you to kiddo."**_

_**He and Jack led me downstairs where the living room was decorated haphazardly with birthday decorations that had been put up, hanging in the windows.**_

_**I laughed, "Can I go back to sleep now?"**_

"_**No, you're going to stay down here and celebrate your twelfth birthday with us now." Bobby pushed me onto the couch and threw an unwrapped box into my hands. The white box was plain, no bow, and no tag to tell me that it was from him. But I smiled at him and opened the box, seeing a guitar pick. It was clear with Mercer written on it in large block letters.**_

_**I smiled, "Thanks Bobby…but I don't have a guitar."**_

"_**Then this gift'll be ten times better."**_

_**Jerry handed me a large box that was almost as tall as me, it was wrapped and an intricate looking bow was wrapped around it. I tore the ribbon and the paper off, opening the box and smiling at the purple and black guitar laying inside it.**_

"_**Oh my god." I took it out of the box, cradling it like a baby.**_

_**It wasn't the best guitar in the world, certainly not a Gibson, but it was beautiful.**_

"_**This is amazing."**_

"_**It was Jackie's idea, the kid said you were pretty good."**_

_**I laughed nervously, Jack had caught me about a month ago playing his guitar. I'd thought he'd have been mad about it, but instead he laughed and told me that I'd hit the wrong note when he'd come into his room, startling me. It's not that I was trying to make him mad, it's just that I had been taught by my older friend Kevin had taught me how to play, my mom just wouldn't 'waste her money' on buying me one. And Jack's was right there, while he was at a friend's house I was home alone and I decided, maybe he wouldn't notice.**_

…_**Okay, maybe it wasn't my best idea.**_

"_**This is amazing, thank you guys." I smiled again and felt happy that I did have a family that cared, even if they weren't my biological family, they went out of their way to take care of me.**_

_**And that's exactly what I needed.**_

_- - -  
><em>"Sir, are you the man that owns the store?" Bobby called to an older man that was walking toward the convenience store.

The man nodded, "We're Evelyn Mercer's children, we were hoping that you could show us the tape. We're just trying to figure out what exactly happened."

He led us inside and started the security tape, we watched helplessly as Miss Evelyn spoke to Darnel about stealing a piece of candy. And then, after he left, she walked over to the turkeys…and that's when everything went wrong. The two shooters raised their guns, Miss Evelyn backing up in fear…and then…they just shot her.

Jack turned, tears in his eyes and I hugged him, looking away myself. Those assholes had killed in cold blood, for no fucking reason. Bobby spoke to the store clerk again and I led Jack outside into the cold air. He needed to clear his head, he was probably trying to keep himself from freaking out, trying to be strong like his brothers.

"Jackie?" I bit my lip, watching him as he tried to collect himself.

"I'm fine." His voice was gruff and held the choking sound that he was trying to hold back tears.

I hugged him again, looking up into his eyes, "Sweetie, I know you. You're a bad liar."

He laughed, the sound vibrating his chest, "So what."

"You can't lie to me." I poked him in the chest and he smiled.

"Let's go you two. That wasn't just some robbery that was a fucking execution." Bobby came out and we ran toward the gym, all of us surprised that Jerry was coming with us.

"What're we going to do?" Jerry asked him as we walked inside the gym where a basketball game was going on.

"We're gonna get killed." Jack commented as we stopped at the edge of the court.

Angel turned around, "What do you mean we, white boy?"

"Bobby, what are you going to do?" Jerry asked again.

Bobby shrugged, "I dunno, we're winging it."

"We're always winging it."

I kept quiet, keeping my eyes on the crowd, Bobby's winging it wasn't always a good thing, but no one else had a plan, that was for sure.

Bobby walked away then, onto the middle of the court, grabbing the ball from a kid as he did so, "I've got the rock now."

He bounced the ball, trying to piss people off and then got attacked by one of the players, he punched the kid before everyone else jumped in to help their team mate. Bobby pulled out his gun, making everyone back up then, people were yelling in the bleachers and Jerry ran onto the field, going to help Bobby before he got himself killed.

"All I wanted to do was ask a few questions. Now, a few of you probably knew my mother, Evelyn Mercer, she was shot a week ago in cold blood, and I want to know who the hell did it. We know someone here knows a person who could help us find these guys and if you help us, we'll allow you all to return to your game."

Jack and I looked around, trying to see anyone who fit the bill of what the store clerk had explained to Bobby, Jerry, and Angel; a guy with an afro that never wore a coat. There were a few people here that could fit that description, but then, both Jack and I noticed as one kid stood up, looking a bit scared and we turned to Angel, showing him the kid and the three of us ran off, Angel going outside the gym. Jack and I ran after him, unable to keep up with him for a moment.

"Hey kid! No. Running. In. The. Halls!" Jack yelled, sucking in a breath as he sped up to catch him.

The kid ran into a door and Jack caught him as he rebounded off the door that Angel blocked. Angel walked in through the door, grabbing the kid from Jack as we ran back to the gym where we alerted Bobby.

"Thank you, you've all been a wonderful help. Asa lama lakum." He threw the basketball behind him and started making his way toward us, Jerry following close behind.

"Alright now kid I want you to answer some questions. Obviously you know the guy we're looking for." Bobby pinned the kid against the wall, the rest of us crowding around him so he couldn't run off.

"Yeah he's my brother."

Bobby laughed, "He's your brother? Well shit, these are my brothers, and the girl here is my little sister."

"No, no. He's my real brother." The kid looked at us, taking it all in, trying not to panic.

Bobby scoffed, "Yeah, these are my real brothers too. I'm Bobby, that's Angel, Jack, Jeremiah, and little Danielle here."

I scowled at the 'little' part, I was almost taller than him, but whatever, we were focusing on the kid.

"Now, where's your brother?"

"I ain't tellin' you a damn thing man." The kid struggled, trying to get away from Bobby.

Jack took his backpack and he and I shuffled through it, "Hey, I got it."

I pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to Bobby.

He nodded, "Alright, we'll be leaving now, thanks for the help."

"Nice grades, stay in school kid." Jack held up a piece of paper filled with math equations and dropped the bag on the ground as Jerry and Angel inspected the kid's horrible attempt at bling.

"What is this aluminum?" Jerry grabbed it, practically laughing at the kid.

He handed it to Jack, the kid looking frightful at us as we laughed at him, "Shit doesn't even spin."

We walked away then, leaving the scared kid behind as we followed Bobby out of the building, into the cold frigid air of Detroit and into his car.


	11. Chapter 11

"That wasn't no gang shooting, that was an execution. They set mom up, they set her up." Bobby punched the steering wheel of his car, causing Jack to flinch beside me from the sudden violence from his oldest brother.

I sighed and placed my hand on his shoulder for a moment before turned as Jerry moved a little on my other side.

"I have to go guys." Jerry said from the back seat, pushing Bobby's seat in front of him.

Bobby turned slightly from the driver's side, "Where're you going?"

"I have two girls Bobby and a schedule to keep. Come on let me go, I have gymnastics." Bobby got out of the car, allowing Jerry to get out.

"You got your leotard Jerry? Maybe you should take Cracker Jack with you, he's flexible."

"Bobby, you're the one who took ballet."

I snickered and Bobby flipped Jack off, saying something about Jack being a fairy. I took Jerry's seat, glad that I wasn't squished between him and Jack anymore, and leaned against the window, watching Jack as he traced patterns in the fog of the windows, singing some song that he made up.

"Man, I don't know how you did it for so many years." Bobby spoke up, looking behind him at his little brother for a moment before turning to look at Angel.

"What do you mean?"

"Bein' on a ship for all those years, no women to comfort you." Bobby said it as if that was a bad thing and I rolled him eyes.

"Bobby, the marines went coed forever ago." I told him, moving to lean forward in the middle of the seats.

Angel nodded, "Yeah, and it wasn't a ship."

"But those girl's must've looked like dudes."

"Not after six months they don't."

We were all quiet for a moment, listening to Jack until he pointed to the window.

"That's him…it's him."

We all got out of the car and Bobby called after the guy, "Hey, Damian…Damian!"

The guy ran and we all followed after him, being stopped short as he got into the elevator.

"Jack, you and Danny stay down here and tell us where he stops."

Jack and I watched as they went to the stairs and then turned back to the elevator, Jack reciting the numbers as the elevator continued to climb.

"1…2, 2…3…4, 4…5…"

We waited for the elevator to stop and when it finally did, we ran to the doors, "Six! He stopped at six!"

They didn't reply and the two of us began walking up the stairs, Jack using the tire iron to grip the edges of the stairs.

"How much do you wanna bet that Bobby's gonna take it too far?" I asked sighing as we walked up them, both walking slowly, this wasn't something that I cared to see…until I heard the gun shots.

Lovely.

We quickened our pace and ran into the room just as Bobby cut the rope that Damian was climbing down from.

"Is he dead?" I asked worried.

"No, he's just fucked up." Bobby turned and the four of us ran back down the stairs and outside to where Damian was laying on the ground bawling as bone protruded from his leg.

"Ugh, that's disgusting." I bit my lip, and watched as the four of us crowded around him.

The guy sputtered, obviously in pain, "Someone call me a doctor."

"What for my dog bites? Nah, I'm good thanks."

"Dog bites?" I looked over at Bobby's arm, seeing holes in his leather jacket.

Bobby ignored me and Damian continued trying to call for help, "Man, I can't hear you. And if we leave you here, no one else will either." Angel spoke and we crowded around him, "Now, if you answer our questions, we'll call you an ambulance and we'll be on our way."

"Help!"

"Tell us who hurt our mom or we're gonna leave you here and you're gonna die, alone." Bobby knelt down, watching as the guy squirmed, trying to get someone to help him, "We'll call you a damn ambulance after you tell us what happened."

Bobby was getting angrier now, and he stood up again kicking the guy's injured foot a little before we walked off, Jack looking behind him periodically as we did so.

"Man turn around." Angel yelled at him, "Don't look back at him, this isn't some pity party."

"Man, his bone is hanging out of his leg; we're just going to leave him here?" Jack bit his lip and we turned around as the guy called us back.

"I'll tell you, just…please, call an ambulance."

Jack and I hung back a little as he told Bobby and Angel what he knew, watching as they talked to the guy and then just walked away.

"Wait…you have to call me an ambulance, I told you what I knew, you can't just leave me here."

Damian was yelling now, fear covering his voice as Bobby and Angel pulled Jack and I with them.

"We can't just leave him there. Man, come on."

"We can leave him here and we will, let's go Danny." Bobby replied, we were almost to his car now and I looked back, Damian could no longer be seen as the snow picked up, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. I knew that he had had something to do with Miss Evelyn's death, but I also knew that she didn't want her sons to become killers.

I contemplated my chances of running back there, I don't know why I wanted to help him, I figured it had something to do with Miss Evelyn, but I don't know, he was my age, the kid had barely lived and he was just going to die out here alone.

"Danny, get in the car." Bobby watched me, opening the door and lifting the seat up, pushing me slightly into the car. I rolled my eyes and got in, sitting close to Jack for warmth as Bobby pushed the seat back and getting in himself.

"_**Hey Jack." I smiled and waved him over to our table of friends.**_

_**He walked over, his leather jacket sparkling with water droplets from outside and I looked away, blushing slightly and kicking my friend, Georgia under the table as she laughed at me.**_

"_**Hey Jackson, how's it going?" She smiled as he set his lunch tray down on the table beside me, our arms touching slightly.**_

_**Jack rolled his eyes, "I've told you not to call me Jackson Georgia. It's annoying."**_

"_**How about Gregory, I could start calling you Greg."**_

"_**Don't bring my middle name in this." He ran his hand through his hair as another of our friends sat down.**_

"_**Are you guys having that argument again?" Peter sat down and laughed, "Man you and Georgia just need to go out already. You two are perfect for each other.**_

_**Georgia shook her head, "I think someone else holds the key to his heart."**_

_**We all made faces at her dramatics, this was something we were all used to. Every day for lunch Georgia and I would get our table and wait as the others in our group would come and sit down, and usually Jack and Georgia would get into an argument which would continue onto something dramatic from Georgia.**_

_**It was a routine, but it was a routine that I enjoyed. The one thing I could count on without having to be afraid of someone's moods.**_

_**I rubbed my wrist, another cast wrapped around it, my mother had been getting more and more violent lately, and I wasn't quite sure why she was so angry.**_

"_**You okay Danny?" Jack looked over at me, handing me a french-fry before taking a bite of his burger.**_

_**I nodded, "Yeah, just tired, long night."**_

"_**It looked like it." He raised an eyebrow and looked down at my cast, I only shrugged, it really didn't matter.**_

_**He rolled his eyes, "So, what happened to your arm?"**_

"_**I fell down the stairs last night. I was tired and I missed a step. Clumsy me." I gave a half-hearted laughed and took another of his French-fries, "Anyway, I heard Bobby's thinking of coming back into town. Is that right?"**_

_**Jack shrugged, "I don't know. He keeps saying he's going to come home, but he hasn't yet. I think he ran into some trouble in Chicago or something."**_

"_**That's Bobby for you."  
>"Yeah, that is Bobby."<strong>_

"_**So are you two coming to the party tonight?" Georgia interrupted us and I looked over at her.**_

"_**Where?"**_

"_**Sweet's place."**_

_**I continued stealing French-fries, laughing at Jack's expression for a moment before looking back at Georgia, "Victor's place? You know Miss Evelyn isn't going to let either of us go there."**_

"_**What **_**Miss Evelyn **_**doesn't know won't kill her."**_

"_**Don't talk about my mom like that." Jack looked up from trying to keep his French-fries away from me, "But you are right, it would be nice to get out of the house for once."**_

"_**I don't think going to a dealer's house is the best way for getting out of the house…I think that'll land you more of a lock in."**_

"_**Come on, Victor's nice. It's Malcolm we have to worry about Danny." Georgia looked at me expectantly, knowing Jack wouldn't go if I didn't and I sighed, knowing that Jack needed to get out of the house.**_

"_**Okay, but if we get in trouble this was not my idea."**_

_**They all nodded happily and I grabbed another French-fry, stuffing it into my mouth.**_

"So, we'll worry about this tonight. Damian told us that the two were supposed to be going to that club tonight. It should be easy enough to get there and talk to them. But for now, I want to go home, maybe La Vida Loco will have left by now."

"Man, why do you have to pull that shit?" Angel angrily shook his head, annoyed that Bobby was grilling his girlfriend again.

I kinda felt bad for him, having to deal with Bobby grilling him about Sophie had to be annoying…hell, it annoyed me.

"Jesus Bobby shut up."

"What Danny, all I'm saying is that Sophie is seriously dragging us down, she's annoying."

"You're annoying." I muttered, kicking the back of his seat.

"Don't hurt my car."


	12. Chapter 12

We pulled into the parking lot of the club, it was dark now, and the pulsing music made my headache worse. Bobby and Sophie had fought most of the evening about her staying in the house, I swear, Bobby would never grow up sometimes, the way he was treating her was a bit unfair.

"Alright, when we get in there, we gotta look for the guy with the goatee. You ready to go?" Bobby turned to look at the three of us in the car with him and we all nodded, getting out of the car to go into the club.

We walked in, acting as if we owned the place and looked around, Angel whispering the word goatee to himself repeatedly.

"There, he's over there." Jack shouted over the music and I followed his gaze, seeing two men sitting at the bar, flirting with the barista.

Bobby looked around, "Where?"

"There, right there." Jack pointed to the two men and Bobby forced his hands down.

"Don't point, you're going to alert them that they're here."

The guys stood up and I cursed running after them quickly, the brothers following behind as I pushed a man out of the way, the brothers getting into a slight brawl before they were able to follow me.

"Shit!"

We stopped for a moment and Jack brought the shot gun up.

"Get 'em Jackie!" Bobby yelled.

Jack shot two shots, barely hitting their car, "You go girl."

I almost laughed, but we ran to Bobby's car, shooting ourselves inside as Bobby started the car and sped after them.

"_**So where exactly are you and Jack going tonight?" Miss Evelyn placed a plate of cookies on the table in front of me and I took one, enjoying the taste of the chocolate, she and Jack had just made these minutes ago and they tasted amazing.**_

_**I shrugged, tasting another bite, "Just to a party of sorts."**_

_**I knew how to work Evelyn, knew just how Bobby, Jerry, and Angel had gotten to so many parties, be as vague as possible and never, never tell her where exactly the party is going to take place.**_

"_**Where is this party taking place?" She looked at me with a knowing smile, I may have known how her sons were able to trick her, but it only worked once…maybe I didn't know them as well as I thought they had.**_

_**I bit my lip, unsure of what to tell her for a moment, "Um…well, I'm not exactly sure. Georgia and Peter are driving us and they didn't exactly tell us where it was."**_

_**I knew from Miss Evelyn's face that she didn't believe me, but she knew, just like her older boys that Jack and I would find a way to go, and she probably figured that it would be best to let us go to this party than have to fight with Jack over him sneaking out again.**_

"_**Alright, but if I get one call from the police, both of you are grounded until Bobby gets home."**_

"_**Wait, when is Bobby supposed to be coming?" Jack walked downstairs, taking my unfinished cookies out of my hands and taking a bite of it before sitting down and looking at his mother curiously.**_

"_**Hey!" I reached over to take my cookie back, he only leaned over a bit, keeping the cookie easily out of my reach.**_

_**Miss Evelyn laughed at us and pushed the plate of cookies toward me again, I took another and punched him with my uncasted hand.**_

"_**Bobby is coming home in two weeks. Can you wait until then?" She smiled a knowing smile and sat down with us, grabbing a cookie of her own as she watched us, "And you know Jack, that Bobby is going to want to know about your latest girlfriend."**_

_**Jack sighed, "She wasn't my girlfriend. She was like twelve."**_

_**I laughed, "Yeah, well the kid sure thought that you were just as in love with her as she was of you."**_

"_**Was that a hint of annoyance in your voice Danny?" He laughed in return and I glared.**_

"_**Annoyance? Where the hell did you get that one?"**_

_**Miss Evelyn looked at us disapprovingly, "Watch your language Danielle."**_

"_**Sorry Miss Evelyn."**_

_**We turned then as a car honked outside, and Jack and I got in, saying goodbye to Evelyn quickly. Tonight we were going to party, and we were going to enjoy it.**_

"Fuck, my car has no traction!" Bobby yelled.

Currently we were speeding down a snowy Detroit street, following the thugs.

"Bobby, slow the hell down!" I yelled, being thrown into Jack as Bobby tried to turn the corner.

"Shut up and put your seatbelts on." Bobby yelled back at us. I was unable to do what he said as I was thrown into Jack's lap as Bobby ran into a car.

"Fuck, I just destroyed my baby!"

"Shut up Bobby."

I stayed in Jack's lap for the time being, he held onto my waist, keeping me there as Bobby continued to speed. I was freaked out, and I knew that if I was freaked out Jack was too. I could see it in Jack's eyes that this was bringing back a memory that he did not want to remember. Damn it Bobby, why'd he have to keep going out of control like this, it was scaring Jack.

"Bobby, slow down." Jack yelled, his arms tightened around my waist as we twisted around another curve.

"Shut up, you stupid fairy and put your damn seatbelt on." Bobby yelled back, "And watch this!"

He swerved around again and somehow cut the other car off, causing their car to flip over on its side.

"Shit."

We all got out of their car, "Danny, you and Jack stay here."

"What?"

"Stay here."

We did as we were told and I stayed close to Jack as Bobby and Angel dragged the two men out of the crashed car and then began beating them. I looked at Jack who was currently watching his brothers with wide eyes.

"Jack, Jackie are you alright?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm not."

"Jack…everything's going to be okay…babe, everything's gonna be fine."

I jumped as four shots were fired behind me and I looked at Bobby and Angel as they ran away from them and back to our car.

"What are we going to do about the car?"

"We're gonna leave it somewhere else and then we're gonna call Jerry, Danielle." Bobby spoke through his teeth and we drove slowly now, unable to go very fast in the recently destroyed car.

_**We arrived at Malcolm Sweet's house, the music seemingly pulsed out of the house and lights directed everyone inside.**_

"_**Hey ladies." Victor walked up to us, the nineteen year old smiled down at us and I looked behind us, thinking he was talking to someone else.**_

"_**Yes Victor?" I asked annoyed, I didn't particularly like Victor, he was sort of a jerk, and he did a lot of stuff for his uncle to get money.**_

_**Victor smiled and put an arm around my shoulder, trying to lead me away from my group, "I was wondering how you were doing. I'm glad you showed up, I was hoping you would come tonight."**_

_**Jack followed close behind, not wanting to leave me alone with him, "Yeah, we all came together Victor."**_

"_**Oh, that's great. You're Jack right, Bobby's little brother?"**_

_**Jack nodded, "Yeah I am, why?"**_

"_**I was just curious," Victor shrugged and then turned back to me, "So what happened to your arm there Danielle?"**_

_**I sighed, not wanting to go through this again, "I fell."**_

"_**That's all I get?"**_

"_**Yepp."**_

_**I ducked out from under his arm and walked over to Jack, directing him over to Georgia and Peter where they stood looking at me curiously.**_

"_**What was that about?" Georgia looked over at me and I shrugged unsure.**_

"_**I don't know man. I think he's trying to get me into trouble with Bobby."**_

"_**Probably, and knowing Bobby, he'd be pissed if he found out you were hanging out with him." Jack said. He looked behind him a moment and glared at Victor who was smiling back at me.**_

_**I sighed, "Yeah, and I don't need to get into trouble with Bobby right now."**_

"_**Neither do I."**_

_**We nodded at each other and then Georgia stood up, clapping her hands, "Come on you two, let's go inside and party!"**_

_**She squealed and we walked inside the house, pushing people out of the way as we did so.**_

"Jerry, all I'm asking you is to come pick us up." Bobby said, pacing in front of the car that he 'crashed' into a ditch.

Jack and I were sitting on the ground, my head in his lap as I tried to stay awake. He ran his hand through my hair, keeping it out of my face, and started humming something. The beat sounded familiar, like something we had written together when we were kids.

"What's that from?" I asked, looking up at him curiously.

Jack smiled, "It's that thing we wrote forever ago. I've been wanting to do something with it, but I haven't figured out _what _exactly to do."

I nodded and the sat up slightly to look at Bobby as he yelled at Jerry again.

"Damn it Jerry, I just need you to pick us up. Is that so freaking hard?"

I laughed and laid back down again, "So, are you okay?"

"I don't know right now." Jack sighed and resumed playing with my hair, "I miss ma."

I nodded, "Yeah, I miss her too."

"Jesus Jerry, that's all I needed you to do." Bobby closed the phone and growled slightly, annoyed at his younger brother and then turned to Jack and I, "You alright there fairy?"

"Yeah Bobby I'm fine."

Bobby ruffled Jack's hair and sat down beside us, "You know Bobby, you have a huge cut on your arm right? You're bleeding all over your jacket."

"Maybe I'll have you look at it when Jerry picks us up. You're a nurse right?"

I rolled my eyes, "I went to college for music Bobby."

"Right that fairy shit."

"Bobby, shut up."

I really wasn't in the mood for Bobby's crap right now. It was late, he and Angel had just killed two guys, we were without a car, and it was snowing again.

Perfect plan dumbass.

"Did you really think this one out Bobby?" I asked, I kept my head in Jack's lap, taking a deep breath as Jack began rubbing circles with his hand on my neck.

"No…I guess not."

I scoffed, "Obviously."

"Well, if you obviously knew that, why'd you ask?" Bobby yelled again and I cringed at that loud noise.

"Because I just wanted to hear you say it Bobby. As Miss Evelyn used to say, as smart as you are you just don't like to think."

Bobby laughed slightly, "Don't remind me."

"I wouldn't have to if you would just think for once in your damn life."

"Shut up Danny."


	13. Chapter 13

I sat up in bed, running a hand through my hair and looked over to where Jack had been earlier last night.

"Jack?" He wasn't there, his side of the bed unmade and smiled, getting out of bed and stretching.

I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Bobby and Sophie were sitting, Sophie trying to fix Bobby's cuts as he fussed over them.

"Ouch."

"Bobby don't be such a baby."

I laughed as Sophie hit Bobby, "So where's Jack?"

"Sitting on the couch." Bobby sucked in a breath as Sophie touched another one of his cuts and I laughed again, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room, leaning into the doorway to watch Jack as he strummed his guitar lightly, his brow furrowed for a moment and he picked up the paper next to him, writing something down.

I smiled at him and laughed as he looked up, blushing for a moment when he was me, "So, how's the music coming."

"Slowly."

I nodded in understanding, "Seems like it."

"Hey, we got cops in the house." I turned as Angel yelled and Jack stood up, walking to my side to let Bobby sit down, Sophie handing him one of Miss Evelyn's old robes. I held back a laugh as Green and Fowler walked in, taking in the scene before him.

"Nice robe." I glared at Fowler, annoyed by his voice.

Bobby laughed in return, "Yeah, Jackie wanted this all for himself, but I told him that the big boys needed to use it first."

"Do you know what this is?" Fowler held up a clear plastic bag, a hair sitting in it.

I laughed, "Is that a hair from your wife's tit Fowler? I mean really, that's the oldest trick in the book."

Bobby laughed from the couch and stood up, "You know when I'll know they found my hair on a dead body Fowler?"

"Yeah, when's that Mercer?"

"When the bars close behind me." He laughed again and Fowler moved his fist, about to punch him.

Bobby reached him first and hit him, "Whoa, whoa. Both of you stop it."

Green got between the two of them and Angel pulled Bobby back. I tense, ready for another fight, but Jack put his hand on my shoulder, I turned back, and he shook his head. I unclenched my fists and sighed, waiting as the scene before us continued to play out.

"Where's your car Bobby?"

Bobby opened his mouth to speak, but Angel spoke first, "Jerry drove us home. You know Volvos are some of the safest vehicles-"

"Shut up Jarhead." Fowler grumbled.

Angel growled, but stopped speaking.

"What's that on your hand there Bobby?" Green asked, Fowler was behind him now and Bobby sat back down, Angel staying where he stood, watching Fowler now.

"Just a little hockey…you know, taking some things into our own hands."

Green sighed, "Damn it Bobby, you keep knocking on the devil's door long enough and sooner or later someone's gonna answer you."

"We didn't do anything." Bobby shrugged nonchalantly and Green shook his head.

"Bobby, I'm only gonna say this once, you have got to let us handle this. We're working on it best we can."

Angel laughed this time, "Yeah, and look how far it's gotten you."

"Angel, we have to look at every angle alright, it's part of the job."

"I don't care what the damn job is, ya'll aren't doing a thing about it."

Green shook his head then, not justifying Angel with an answer as he and Fowler walked out of the house, slamming the door behind them as they left.

"_**Miss Evelyn, I believe these two belong to you." Officer Green smiled at the woman standing at the door, I couldn't really tell because of how blurry everything was, but I could tell that it was Miss Evelyn…and I could also tell that she wasn't very happy.**_

"_**I'll take it from here Green, thank you." I could hear the disapproval in her voice and I made a face, stumbling into Jack as we tripped through the front door, "Bobby's not going to be too happy about this."**_

_**I laughed and slurred, "Bobby's not home for another three weeks."**_

"_**I'm right here Danielle."**_

_**My head snapped up, trying to see through the blurry features of drunkenness as I saw Bobby. From what I could, he had his angry stance on, his arms were crossed and if I could've seen better I could have probably seen the vein that was standing out on his forehead.**_

"_**Where the hell were you two?" He asked, his voice was raised slightly, there was about to be a yelling match, but I didn't think I could go through that. What I really want to do was to go throw up. It had been the first time that I'd ever exactly gotten drunk, and I found it slightly fun…until now.**_

_**I giggled, unable to control myself, "Calm down Bobby, we were just hanging out with Victor."**_

"_**Victor?" I realized my mistake then and winced, the shit had just hit the fan, "Why were you at Victor's house?"**_

_**Jack shrugged, he had to've been just as drunk as I was, if not even more, "It was nothing Bobby, it was just a party, don't even go there anyway, you've come home worse than this."**_

"_**This isn't about me Jack. This is about the two of you. You're sixteen." He was yelling now, Miss Evelyn was sitting somewhere behind us, letting Bobby grill us instead of doing it herself.**_

_**I scoffed, "Bobby, I seem to remember you doing the same thing." My speech was slurred even worse and I had trouble making out what I was saying exactly.**_

_**Bobby's mouth stayed open for a moment as he processed what I was saying, "Danielle, go to your room."**_

"_**No Bobby, you're not my mother."**_

_**Bobby stepped forward, a distorted angry look on his face, "Excuse me Danielle."**_

"_**You're **_**not **_**my mother Bobby."**_

"_**I don't care if I'm not your mother, go to your room."**_

_**I glared at him, "Fuck you Bobby."**_

_**I turned around and stomped out of the house, tripping again as I walked over the doorstep and stumbled over to my house, Bobby's voice angrily calling after me as I slammed the door.**_

"So what're we doing today?" I asked, sitting down again as Bobby took off Miss Evelyn's robe and folded it, quickly going upstairs and putting it back into her room. Bobby was staying there currently and it seemed to bug him a bit, but he was doing a pretty good job at hiding the fact that it bugged him. I'd caught him crying in there a few times during the night in the past week.

He came back down, still shirtless and bleeding a bit on his arm and sat down next to me for a moment, "We're going to check out that gunman's house and see if he was anything good there."

I nodded and sat down beside him, putting my head in my face in my hands for a moment, "Green's right you know. If we do keep up what we're doing, someone's bound to come back at us. And when they do, I have a feeling that it won't be pretty."

"When did you become so pessimistic Danny?" Bobby looked over at me, an uncaring look on his face as he slung his arm on the back of his couch.

I shook my head my, "Bobby, you're not thinking, again. Would you take a moment and actually think about the consequences of what we're doing? You should know more than anyone what happens when you go messing with shit like this."

"Danielle, nothing's gonna happen alright. Everything is going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

Bobby shrugged, "If something happens we'll be ready."

I rolled my eyes and stood up annoyed with Bobby's arrogant attitude. I walked passed Jack and outside the house, going over to the swing set and sitting down again, swinging for a moment and sighed.

"Jack, you're not very slick." I laughed and looked over at the front porch of Miss Evelyn's house where Jack was trying to inconspicuously smoke a cigarette. He laughed to and stepped out of the porch, walking over to me and sitting on the other swing.

"Bobby knows your right."

I nodded, "I'm always right."

"No you're not."

"_**Danielle!"**_

_**I sat with my back against the front door, ignoring Bobby as he pounded on the door. I had an empty trash can sitting beside me, and I leaned my head against it, throwing up again for what seemed like the hundredth time.**_

_**I felt like crap now that I was coming out of my drunken stupor. I coughed, making a face as the taste of vomit stayed in my throat.**_

"_**Bobby go away." I yelled, my voice scratchy and tired.**_

_**Bobby sighed on the other side of the door, "Come on Danny, open up."**_

"_**Leave me alone Bobby." I leaned my head against the trashcan, wanting to fall asleep.**_

_**Bobby pushed the door a little, and I sighed, moving out of the way slightly, "Bobby, can't you just leave me alone?"**_

_**He walked into the house, sitting down next to me and shooting a look to the trashcan that I was currently hugging.**_

"_**Don't drink much do you?" Bobby asked.**_

_**I rolled my eyes, "What the hell do you want Bobby."**_

"_**I'm just here to get you to come back to ma's. You and Jack aren't going to be feeling all that well in the morning, and ma wants you home for that. Plus, I'm looking for an apology. Fuck you, I mean, that was a little uncalled for."**_

_**I snorted, "Shut up Bobby, you deserved it."**_

"_**No, I did not. You deserved what I said to you. You're not my father, you'd do well to remember that."**_

_**Bobby shook his head, "You'd do well to remember that I helped ma raise you. I seem to remember you calling me dad once."**_

"_**I seem to remember you freaking out after I called you that."**_

_**He shrugged and stood up, grabbing my hand and forcing me to stand as well, "Come on, we're going home."**_

_**I shook my head, the room spinning and leaned down, vomiting again into the trashcan.**_

"_**I'm staying here tonight."**_

_**Bobby laughed at me, "No, you're not, but you might want to get rid of that trashcan, leave that here."**_

"_**I don't want to go back." I whined.**_

_**Bobby sighed and picked me up effortlessly, throwing me over his shoulder and then walked out of the house, "Don't throw up on me brat."**_

"_**Bobby, put me down!" I punched his back and he laughed again, jostling me on purpose as we walked, my house leaving view as he walked inside Miss Evelyn's house and up the stairs.**_

"_**Miss Evelyn!"**_

_**She watched as Bobby carried me in, a smile on her face as Bobby walked past her and into the bathroom.**_

"_**You might want to stay in here tonight, I'm not sure how much longer you're going to make it though, you seem pretty tired."**_

_**He dropped me on the floor of the bathroom and I glared at him, "I hate you."**_

"_**I know Danny, but you'll thank me for this later."**_

_**He walked out of the bathroom and Miss Evelyn walked in, laughing at her son, "Oh and Danielle."**_

"_**Yes?"**_

"_**You're grounded."**_

_**I nodded, leaning against the wall, "I figured."**_

"Come on guys, let's go." Bobby stood up, getting off the couch and walked toward the front door, waiting for Angel, Jack, and I to follow him. We did, but just as Angel went to move Sophie walked in, an annoying whiney look on her face as she stopped him.

"Baby, can you hold on for a second?" She smiled slightly when Angel nodded and then punched him in the chest, "I seem to remember spending an _hour_ in the kitchen."

He sighed, "Yeah I know baby, but I have to go do this."

"She's so La Vida Loca." Bobby cut in, I sighed, of course he was going to go there.

Angel shook his head, "Shut up Bobby, don't start with that. That's why you don't get a girlfriend."

"I get a girlfriend every fucking week. You know what, I want a girlfriend like you." He turned to Sophie and I rolled my eyes, jerk.

Sophie punched Bobby then, "Calliente."

"Please don't go there. Can ya'll please just not go there?" Angel got in between the two and I leaned into the door frame, Jack and I watching the scene play out."

Bobby moved, walking over to Jack and I and waited for Angel to follow, but when he did start, Sophie cut him off.

"Angel, you said this time was going to be different."

Bobby placed his hands over his heart, "Ai mami, you're breaking me Corazon, chica. She's gettin' real comfortable here, what are you doing? I thought you was all macho man, a tough guy. You know it's a crying shame that Jackie and Danny are the only ones down to ride. Come on guys, let's leave your big sister to play with his dolls."

We turned, following Bobby out the door.

"She's addicted to what Angel's dick did."

I laughed, pushing Jack out the door before Angel could hit him and walked with Bobby.

"Do you know where this guy even lives?" I asked, shivering slightly.

Bobby nodded, "Of course I do."

_**I opened my eyes, regretting it instantly as the lights flashed on.**_

"_**Oh look, the little princess is up." Bobby spoke, smiling evilly down at me.**_

_**I groaned, putting my head in my hands, I never wanted to drink again, "Shut up Bobby."**_

_**Everything was making my head throb, even the soft sound of water dripping out of the bathroom sink seemed ten times louder than normal. I wanted to crawl into a ball and die.**_

"_**Let's go princess, it's time to eat."**_

_**I groaned again, "I'm not hungry."**_

"_**To bad."**_

_**Bobby grabbed one of my hands, pulling me up and I was forced to open my eyes to watch where I was being dragged. I squinted, confused as Bobby stopped before his bedroom door and walked in, leaving me to close my eyes, trying to get rid of the headache.**_

"_**Here, use these."**_

_**I squinted again, and looked at what he was holding, taking the sunglasses and slipping them on.**_

"_**Thanks."**_

_**Bobby nodded and dragged me downstairs, pushing me into the seat across from Jack, who looked almost the same as I felt, he was wearing sunglasses to and was laying his head down on the table. I contemplated doing the same thing until Miss Evelyn placed a plate of food in front of me, preventing me from doing anything but stare at the food.**_

"_**Jackie." She smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder for a moment and then placed a plate in front of him as well as he brought his head up.**_

"_**So kiddos how do you feel?" Bobby laughed.**_

"_**I feel like shit Bobby, what the hell do you think?" Jack said, his voice was gruff and Bobby laughed from beside me.**_

"_**Jack, watch your language please."**_

"_**Sorry mom." He mumbled.**_

_**I stared down at the food, wondering if it would just disappear if I looked at it. I wasn't hungry, in fact I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it down, the smell of the food was upsetting my stomach.**_

"_**Miss Evelyn, may I be excused please?" I said, pushing the food away from me.**_

_**She looked at me, alarmed and the nodded, "Yes Danielle."**_

"_**No."**_

_**I looked over at Bobby for a moment and then decided to ignore him as I stood up, walking upstairs and going to the bathroom quickly before going into my bedroom and falling onto my bed.**_

"I'm going to look in the bedroom, you two look around in the rest of this shit-hole and see what you can find." Bobby walked away and Jack and I split up, looking in separate places in the apartment.

I didn't find much except a camera, which I showed to Jack as he looked through the guy's stack of CD's, "Hey look at this."

I threw him the camera and Bobby walked out of the room, a duffle bag filled with guns with him.

"They say dead men tell no tales, but they sure leave a lot of important shit around. Did you guys find anything?"

Jack showed him the camera and Bobby nodded, "We need to go."

I grabbed one of the guy's CD's from Jack's hand and nodded, following Bobby out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh, look at this one." Bobby held up a gun and I looked at it, the thing seemed like the last four that he pulled out.

Currently, Bobby, Jack, and I were in the kitchen, looking at the guns Bobby stole from the house. I thought they were cool, but they also didn't look any different from each other to me at all.

"Bobby, that looks exactly the same as the last one." I said. I watched them, my head propped up on my hand from where I sat at the table, staring at him bored, an eyebrow raised.

Bobby shook his head, "Danielle, do you see the barrel of this gun?"

He showed me the gun and I shrugged, "Yeah."

"The barrel is the exact opposite of this gun."

He held up another one, "Still don't see it."

"This one holds six bullets, this one holds two."

I rolled my eyes, "Man, all you had to say was that. I know how to shoot one, not what every piece of the dumb things are called."

"You should learn them." He pulled out another gun, placing it on the table.

"Nah, I think I'm good."

Bobby rolled his eyes and turned to Sofi, "Ai mami, I think you missed a spot on the floor there."

Sofi threw the towel she was carrying at Bobby and he ducked, it knocked a lamp on the table, it crashed down to the floor, breaking instantly.

"Ha you missed."

Sofi flipped him off, walking away as she yelled in Spanish.

"_**Danny, I'm not going to bail you out every time you get into a damn fight." Jack sighed, hoisting me up a little farther on his back as Bobby walked beside us.**_

_**I coughed, wiping the blood of my split lip on my jacket, "He started it."**_

"_**He was twice your size. I don't care what he was saying, but I'm not always gonna be around."**_

_**Jack sighed, "Trust me, this is only one fight she's been in this month."**_

_**I'd been permanently staying with the Mercer's for a month now, since Jack had saw the bruises from Phil, Miss Evelyn had called Bobby and he'd personally beat the shit out of the guy. Not that it made him go away.**_

_**Bobby shook his head, "Why are you getting into so many fights now?"**_

"_**Because I can." I didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to think of the rumors that had been started about Jack. It pissed me off that, thanks to Bobby, everyone now thought he was gay just because his **_**older brother **_**called him a fairy.**_

_**Bobby shook his head, "No, there has to be a reason."**_

"_**Maybe I'm just permanently angry, just like you Bobby."**_

_**He turned to me angrily and I glared back from where I was perched, Jack carrying me all the way from the school to Miss Evelyn's house.**_

"_**I'm not playing anymore Danielle."**_

_**I rolled my eyes, "Oh, scary Bobby. I know you won't hit me."**_

"_**Don't be to sure."**_

"_**Miss Evelyn taught you better than that Bobby."**_

_**He growled and walked away, I sighed, laying into Jack a bit more on his back. I wanted to just take some pills and go to sleep, I seriously felt, and probably looked, like hell.**_

"_**Why did you get in that fight Danny?" Jack asked quietly.**_

_**I sighed, knowing I should tell him. But I really didn't, I didn't want him to know that people that he was gay, he probably already knew though, he'd been a few fights himself.**_

"_**He was calling you gay." I bit my lip, defeated now. I didn't think he would be mad at me for fighting a guy over that, but I knew if bugged him when people said that about him.**_

_**Jack laughed a bit, obviously embarrassed, "You really hit the quarterback of the football team over that?"**_

"_**Yeah, it's not cool. You're not gay."**_

"_**I know that, but it doesn't mean you should be getting as messed up as you are because of that."**_

_**I sighed again, "I think it's a pretty damn good reason."**_

"_**It's really not. They're high schoolers, they're gonna do that kind of shit."**_

_**He walked up the steps, ignoring Bobby as he held the door open and walked up the stairs. He walked into my room and deposited me on the bed lightly before leaving, going to get the handy dandy first aid kit that Miss Evelyn kept in the bathroom.**_

"_**Just because they're dumb, doesn't mean they have the right to say that."**_

_**Jack smiled at me, taking out some of the crap from the box. He wiped my left eye, I couldn't see out of it right now, it was swollen shut and my eyebrow had been split in the fight as well.**_

_**So fighting the quarterback of the football team probably wasn't the best idea in the world, but he'd been provoking me.**_

"_**Ouch," I flinched back, recoiling from Jack's touch as he put pressure on my eye.**_

_**He sighed, "Sorry Danny."**_

"_**What are you sorry for Jack?"**_

_**I turned, looking at the door to see the extremely surprised Miss Evelyn. She was obviously shocked, I'd been in a couple of fights this month, but this was the only time I had yet to defend myself properly, it had to freak her out. She was used to Bobby, Jerry, and Angel coming home like this, not me.**_

"_**What happened?"**_

"_**I got in a fight at school Miss Evelyn. I'm okay though."**_

_**Bobby stood behind her, his arms crossed, "You're not okay. You've got a black eye that's swollen shut."**_

"_**Like you haven't come home looking exactly like this."**_

"_**So what if I have. You're my little sister, no one touches my little sister."**_

_**I made a face, regretting it instantly and then watched at Miss Evelyn took Jack's place in front of me, fixing my split lip and clucking her tongue as she looked at my eye.**_

"_**You're staying home tomorrow."**_

_**I sighed and shook my head, "Miss Evelyn, don't make me stay with that jerk." I pointed at Bobby and watched as her lips twitched with a smile, "I need to go to class."**_

"_**Jack can get your notes for you."**_

"_**Miss Evelyn."**_

_**She shook her head, and stood up, handing the first aid kit to Bobby to put up, "Don't **_**Miss Evelyn **_**me Danielle Love. You're to do as you're told. You are staying here tomorrow, this is the sixth fight you've been in this month. What has gotten into you?"**_

"_**People suck." I looked to the side, unable to look her in the eye.**_

_**She sighed, and I saw from the corner of my eye the stern look she was giving me. I stopped myself from biting my lip, knowing it would just start bleeding again.**_

"_**Danielle, why are you getting in so many fights?"**_

_**I shrugged, not wanting to tell her even more than I didn't want to tell Jack, "I don't know."**_

"_**Danielle."**_

"_**I don't know."**_

_**She sighed again, "Jack, Bobby, can you give Danielle and I a moment please."**_

_**They left the room and Miss Evelyn sat down beside me, "Danielle, what's going on?"**_

"_**People have been making fun of Jack because of Bobby."**_

"_**What do you mean?"**_

_**Miss Evelyn looked at me expectantly and I shrugged, "Well, um...You know how Bobby's been calling Jack a fairy all the time?" she nodded ,"Well, everyone's calling Jack gay now…and he's not."**_

"_**So you're getting into fights because of that?"**_

_**I shrugged, "It's not just that, it's people making fun of me to for hanging out with him. It's not cool."**_

"_**Sweetie, Jack can take care of himself."**_

"_**Yeah, but he shouldn't have to."**_

"Man, what the hell are you doin' to ma's house?" Jerry walked in and I turned, look out from the kitchen and seeing him shaking his head.

The house was messy, there were taco bell wrappers and packets everywhere and the coffee table, which had once been pristinely clean, was now covered in trash.

"We need to clean up a little you guys." I stood up, pushing Jack out of the kitchen with me.

"Hey Jerry."

"Danielle, why the hell does the house like this?"

I shrugged, "We've been a bit busy."

"Busy? You're making mom's house into a gun shop now to."

"I'm not turning anything into a gun shop. That would be _your _big brother, thank you very much."  
>Jerry nodded and walked into the kitchen, arguing with Bobby over the guns and I turned to the table, picking up some of the trash we'd left on the coffee table from the night before.<p>

"Here," Jack took everything out of my hands, "go sit down."

"What? He smiled at me and shoved me onto the couch, grabbing a few more things off the table and turning, going back into the kitchen where Bobby and Jerry were still arguing.

"Jack you sit down."

He looked at me and smiled as he came back into the room, "Why?"

"Because."

Jack laughed and did as I told him, pulling me closer to him. He'd been doing this a lot lately and it surprised me, Jack wasn't one that could be close to people this easily, but I was happy that he felt comfortable enough with me to do that.

"You're a dork." He messed up my hair and I rolled my eyes, punching him slightly.

"You're a douche."

_**I looked down the hallway of my room, making sure that no one was going to walk past as I tried to escape. Smoothing the dress I was wearing a little, I took a deep breath and made a quick getaway.**_

"_**Danielle, where are you going?" I froze, not wanting to turn to see Bobby.**_

_**I chose to keep walking, ignoring him.**_

"_**Danielle, answer me." He followed me down the stairs and grabbed my hand, making me turn to face him.**_

"_**I'm going out."**_

"_**With who?"**_

"_**Me."**_

_**I turned, smiling at Jack as he came down the stairs. He was wearing a button up shirt and some slacks, he looked sharp, too bad he wasn't really my date.**_

"_**Where are you two going?" Bobby took in our appearance, surprised.**_

_**Jack shrugged, grabbing my hand, "A dance at the school."**_

"_**Oh." Bobby dropped my hand and I turned as a car horn honked from outside.**_

_**Jack and I walked out the door, making sure we were in the car before he let my hand go and I sidled in beside my actual date, Leroy Sweet, Jack got in the back, smiling over at Elizabeth Collins and I waved goodbye to Bobby as he watched us from the doorway.**_

…

"_**Okay, let's go dance." We all got out of the car, I smoothed down the fabric of my dress again, watching Jack as he led Elizabeth away.**_

_**I let Leroy lead me into the school gym, my floor length purple and black dress looked out of place in the vibrant and short dresses that the other girls were wearing. We followed Jack and Elizabeth, knowing that we should all stay together, it would be stupid to separate at a thing like this, even at a school thing.**_

"_**So, um…you look nice?" Leroy said, looking at me.**_

_**I smiled bashfully, I hadn't wanted to go with him, I didn't even know who he was, but Jack had already asked another girl when I was about to ask him myself, so he was my last choice.**_

_**Damn you Elizabeth Collins.**_

"_**Thanks."**_

"_**No problem."**_

_**We sat down and watched as Jack and Elizabeth danced, both smiling about something. Her blonde hair was curled, just like mine was, but everything seemed to be in the right place, whereas mine probably seemed like a rat's nest.**_

"_**Hey Leroy!" said Sweet turned to the sound of his name and smiled, getting up and walking away with some friend.**_

_**I sighed, tonight was going to suck, epically.**_

…

"_**Danny?" I looked up from the book I had brought with me, knowing that I probably wouldn't be doing much dancing tonight anyway.**_

_**Jack stood before me, a concerned look on his face, "Where'd Leroy go?"**_

"_**I don't care." I shrugged, looking across the dance floor at him, watching as he goofed off with some of his friends.**_

_**Jack followed my gaze and sighed, grabbing my hand, "Come on."**_

"_**What are you doing?" I went to grab the table, but he took me away from it before I could do so.**_

_**He laughed a bit, "You're dancing with me, come on."**_

"_**Jack, I don't want to dance."**_

_**He laughed, "I don't care."**_

"_**What about Elizabeth?"**_

_**He shrugged obviously not caring, "Who knows."**_

_**We were on the dance floor now, slowly dancing to the music, swaying to the beat. It felt right, leaning into him and listening to the sound of our synchronized breathing.**_

_**I bit my lip, wondering exactly what was going on here…what was Jack doing?**_

"_**Jack…"**_

"_**Sh."**_

_**I looked up at him, his blue eyes bright and he smiled. It was one of those rare smiles that very few got to experience, the small little upturn of the corners of his mouth and a slight showing of his teeth.**_

"_**What are you doing?"**_

_**He never answered me, instead he leaned down, very slowly almost hesitantly and pressed his lips to mine.**_

_**I'd thought of this a lot over the past couple of years, when I realized that guys didn't have cooties and all that bullshit. But this was different, much better than I could have imagined. It wasn't as slow as I pictured, but it wasn't all that fast either, that and it was in the middle of being both timid and hungry at the same time. I was confused, not that I didn't want him too, but Jack didn't show affection, he wasn't the type of person who did that, I'd accepted that a long time ago, but as he pulled me closer to his body and the two of us stopped dancing. I realized that if he was showing some type of affection that maybe, just maybe there was a chance we would have something more.**_

_**He pulled back, and I sucked in a breath, biting my lip.**_

"_**Sorry…"**_

_**He trailed off and I smiled, "No, that was…amazing."**_

"_**Really?" He smiled, his blue eyes lighting up a bit more than usual and I laughed.**_

"_**You're a dork."**_

"_**Way to ruin a moment."**_

_**We laughed at each other and smiled, his eyes the brightest I'd seen since he'd moved in with Miss Evelyn only eight years before.**_

"Jack, how's your band doing by the way?" I leaned closer to him, sucking in his warmth.

He put his arm around my shoulders, smiling slightly, "We've sort of been playing in a lot of shitholes lately. I don't know, it's just been a bit annoying."

"Well, we all have to start somewhere."

He nodded and I leaned closer into him, listening as Bobby and Jerry continued to argue in the kitchen.

"Did you ever look at the pictures on that camera?" I looked up at Jack again and he shook his head.

"No, but we probably should, just to get those two to shut up."

I smiled and let him get off the couch, watching as he walked into the kitchen. The arguing stopped and he came back in, his older brother's following close behind.

He sat down and Jerry, Bobby, and I crowded around him, watching as he flipped through the pictures.

"That's ma's lawyer. The bastard said he'd only met her once."

Bobby took the camera out of Bobby's hand and glared down at it

"We're going to this douche bag's house tonight and finding out what the fuck he was doing with ma."

I nodded, "Yeah, I don't like that he lied to us."

"Me either."

_**I walked with Jack again, we were holding hands once again and as he opened the door, the two of us walking into the house. We could hear the television on in the living room and**__**we quietly walked by it, seeing Bobby snoring in the couch, a hockey playing. I grabbed some of the fabric of my dress, pulling it up a little so I could walk up the stairs without stepping on it and pushed Jack slightly as he walked ahead of me.**_

_**He tripped and we laughed quietly, not wanting to wake Bobby or Miss Evelyn as we went to our separate rooms to change.**_

_**It had been a good night, Leroy and Elizabeth got together too, which seemed pretty ironic to me, but it was better than having that chick making my life hell for the next two years.**_

_**I walked into my room, falling onto my bed and giggling for a moment, I felt like a little kid again, felt like everything was slowly falling into place. Like everything that Jack had gone through as a kid could slowly fall into the background of his past, something that he would rarely think about. I knew it would be hard, but it would be nice if I would be able to help him do that, help him slowly get over the past that he should never have had to experience.**_

_**Smiling up at the ceiling, I sighed and closed my eyes, committing tonight's kiss to memory. I never wanted to forget that moment, that was going to be the happiest moment of my life, it was something that I'd want to remember when I was having a bad day, something that could make a bad day ten times better.**_

_**I stood up, quickly changing out of my formal dress, hanging it up quickly and then changing into a pair of nightclothes and falling back onto my bed. I wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight, I was way to hyped up from the dance to be able to go to sleep.**_

_**I wanted a relationship with Jack that would be like every love story I'd ever heard about…but I knew that wouldn't happen, this wasn't a love story and not everything had a happy ending, if we did get together and something tore us apart, it would ruin our relationship, I couldn't handle that.**_

_**I also knew that love stories didn't have character's as fucked up as Jack and I were…**_

_**And I really didn't find that fair.**_

"So when do we leave?" I asked, watching Bobby as he threw the camera at the nearby wall angrily.

He shrugged, "Tonight after we eat. I'm starving."


	15. Chapter 15

I sat down at the table, Jack setting food on it, tonight would the first night since the funeral that the five of us would be eating together. It struck me as weird that we were all going to eat without Miss Evelyn, I didn't like it, but also thought that it would be good for us, we needed a break from trying to find out who killed her.

"Yeah, get him Jerry! The beautiful black ladies of wrestling, Nitro and Midnight! Nitro's got Midnight in a headlock, get him Jerry. Midnight's trying to be up, but Nitro's got 'em."

I turned and watched for a moment as Bobby commentated on Angel and Jerry's little wrestling match and laughed.

"Jackie, give me that." I turned back and took the bowl out of him hand, placing it on the table. He'd been really quite as he cooked, something that I wasn't used to. When he was cooking, Jack talked a lot, it was something to get his mind off of things.

Bobby was still commentating the wrestling match for a moment, but I knew it wouldn't last long, ever since Jack had come into the house, they'd stop wrestling as much as they had before. I was glad for that, they used to get pretty bad, there was always someone coming out with a black eye until Jack got here.

"_**So how was the dance?" Miss Evelyn sat at the table, looking over at Jack and me.**_

_**Everyone was here, it was a full house and I was glad that they had all come back from Christmas.**_

"_**It was pretty good." Jack nodded and I blushed, looking down at my food for a moment, I was a little embarrassed now that the adrenaline was gone.**_

_**What was I thinking kissing him? This could ruin our whole relationship.**_

"_**Yeah," Jack took another bite of his food, "It was pretty damn amazing."**_

_**The four of them sat at the table, looking between Jack and me. I didn't want to look at Jack, I felt like he'd be telling me that he'd made a huge mistake, it was obvious in the way he'd been acting this morning…as if nothing had happened.**_

"_**Is everything alright you two?" Miss Evelyn asked, curious.**_

_**We'd been acting a bit strange all morning, avoiding each other the whole time.**_

_**Jack looked up at me, "Yeah, we're fine."**_

…

"_**Hey Danny, you okay?"**_

_**I looked up from my guitar, fumbling with one of the notes, "Yeah, why?"**_

"_**You've been acting weird all morning, avoiding me a shit." Jack looked over at me, a curious look on his face.**_

_**I bit my lip, "Well…I, I didn't want you to realize that it was a mistake."**_

"_**A mistake?" he laughed slightly, shaking my bed a little.**_

"_**What?"**_

_**He stopped laughing, "Why would that be a mistake? I mean, I kissed you."**_

"_**I don't know, maybe you realized something when we got home last night."**_

_**He laughed again, "Danielle, you're such a dork."**_

"So Jack, when are you going to tell people?" Bobby came in and took his seat at the front of the table, looking at Jack as he placed another bowl on the table.

I glared at him, immediately knowing where this was going as I continued to help Jack.

"Don't start Bobby."

He smiled a little Cheshire grin, "You know that people won't judge you differently. I won't, 'cause you're my brother and I love you man. But, you need to tell people that you're gay."

"Bobby shut up." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I know you want me to be gay for you Bobby, but I hate to burst your bubble. I'm completely straight." He stuck his tongue out, revealing a tongue ring.

"Well with that meat tenderizer there you sure look it."

Bobby laughed and I rolled my eyes, following Jack as he stormed into the kitchen, flipping Bobby off.

"Man, come on I'm just playing around. Jackie, I'm sorry. I'll let you wear my jacket."

"Jackie."

He slammed his fist on the table angrily, "Damn it! I'm sick and tired of Bobby's bull shit."

I looked at him, waiting for him to say more, but instead, Jack looked at the floor and began taking the piercing out, looking at it angrily.

"Jack, come on. I liked it." I walked closer to his, making him look me in the eye and smiled slightly.

He sighed, "I'm tired of him making fun of me."

"Well, you know when a guy tells another guy that he thinks they're gay that means that the accuser is gay themselves." I raised my voice, making sure Bobby heard me and smiled as Bobby snorted.

"Fuck you Danielle."

"You wish."

"_**You know, I heard that her mom was abusive."**_

_**I looked over, seeing Elizabeth giggling a bit with Leroy, and then quickly put my head down. I didn't want to hear what people were saying about my mom, I didn't want to hear people talk about her at all.**_

_**They didn't know her, and they never would. Who knows where that woman went.**_

"_**Danielle?" I looked up again, seeing Jack and nodded questioningly. I hadn't talked in a few days, preferring not to talk, who knows what would come out right now. I was an absolutely mess, I'd been out of school for a week and Miss Evelyn had had to get Bobby to get me here this morning.**_

_**Jack was really worried, I didn't not speak, that was something I was known for. I'd always had something witty to say when the situation called for it, but now I just wasn't speaking, I wasn't eating much either, which probably freaking him out even more.**_

_**Who knows, maybe I even lost a few pounds.**_

_**Jack smiled slightly, "Hey."**_

_**I nodded again and looked down. I was still in my pajamas, my hair was a mess, no makeup, I looked nothing like how I usually looked when I came to school. I literally looked like I'd gotten fucked up last night, and in this town if someone looked like that, they probably had.**_

_**And in fact, I had. A little heroin can seriously make you feel amazing, make you forget everything that's going and cause you to smile. Add a little alcohol with that and you could seriously have some fun.**_

_**Last night had been the most fun I'd had in quite some time.**_

"_**Danielle, you've got to eat something." Jack tried handing me an apple but I shook my head, not looking up again.**_

_**Everyone was looking at the two of us, well, mostly me, but I didn't like it. For once in my life, everyone's attention was on me, but it wasn't for reasons that I wanted…at all.**_

"_**You haven't eaten in a week. Come on babe, please?"**_

_**I shook my head again and laid my head on the table. I wasn't hungry, more like tired, I hadn't slept at all last night…and I knew that Bobby was suspecting something, he wasn't stupid and he was going to do something about it.**_

_**I could've sworn last night that he'd been outside when I jumped from the roof to sneak out, but he hadn't said anything, so I wasn't entirely sure.**_

"_**Babe." Jack sighed.**_

_**I didn't look at him, instead I stared at the table, tracing patterns with my eyes as I tried to ignore him.**_

"_**Bobby knows you snuck out last night."**_

_**I shrugged, "He also knows what you were doing…he's not very happy."**_

"_**Bobby can go fuck himself. It's none of his business."**_

"_**Well, then it's my business." Jack looked at me, a familiar spark in his eye whenever he got a bit angry.**_

_**I glared at him and stood up, ignoring him as he called my name.**_

"_**Damn it Danielle." He grabbed my hand and turned me around, forcing me to look at him for a moment until he pressed me into his chest, "Don't do this to yourself. She left you, so the hell what, she wasn't worth it anyway."**_

_**I shook slightly, scared again and cried again, something I'd done all week, something I would probably be doing for a while. I didn't feel safe anymore, even here with Jack's arms around me, all I felt was cold.**_

_**Everything had been taken away from me.**_

We were all sitting at the table now, looking at the empty seat across from Bobby. No one spoke for a moment and then we stood up, all holding hands.

"Dear God, thank you for this food and for bringing us together. And please keep us all safe as we find out who hurt our mom."

"Amen."

We all sat down then, and began passing bowls between us, none of us able to keep our eyes on the empty seat for a few moments. I took a bite of food, savoring the taste of it. Jack had gotten even better at cooking than before we all went our separate ways.

"This is good Jackie." I smiled over at him from across the table and he nodded, staring down at his plate as he put some more food in his mouth.

"_**Danielle, I swear to God, if I catch you sneaking out again I'm telling ma, and you will not like what happens then."**_

_**I stared at Bobby, he was yelling, and it hurt my head, so I chose to start walking away, going up stairs.**_

"_**Danielle, don't you dare ignore me." He voice was dangerous and I probably should have stopped, but I didn't. I continued up the stairs, going into my room and locking the door.**_

"_**Open this door now Danielle." He slammed his fist on the door and I rolled my eyes and walked over to my window, throwing it open and jumping out onto the roof and then into the snow below me. I landed on my feet, looking up as Bobby burst into my room, "Damn it Danielle. Get back in here."**_

_**I ignored him and started running, I knew where I was going and getting my fix earlier would really help me out.**_

…

"_**Hey Danny, you're early." I looked at Victor; he had an easy smile on his face, like this was the best deal in his life.**_

_**I nodded at him and handed him the money, looking at the bag.**_

"_**You shorted me Victor."**_

_**He smiled wider, "Well, I wanted to talk to you about that Danielle."**_

"_**What?" I glared at him, not liking where this conversation was going.**_

_**Victor shrugged, "Well, you see…this is an expensive batch-"**_

"_**You said I was getting a deal, what they hell Sweet. Don't mess with me."**_

_**He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders like we were old friends, "Well, if you want more, you can always…you know."**_

_**I looked at him for a moment, contemplating what he was telling me. It took a minute to realize what he was saying, and when I did, I punched him, my fist quickly making contact with his jaw.**_

_**I heard two cracks and instantly yelped in pain.**_

"_**Fuck!"**_

_**Victor gasped in pain and I ran off, hoping not to run into anyone else.**_

_- - -_  
>"Angel, where do you think you're going?"<p>

Sofi stood in front of the door, blocking us from leaving. I may not have hated her as much as Bobby did, but Jesus this chick was getting annoying.

"Baby, not now alright, I have some things I gotta take care of right now." Angel shook his head and Bobby sighed angrily from in front of me.

"Look here sweetheart, maybe you can stay here, clean the house a little, like a good girlfriend and get the hell over it." Bobby said. I glared at him about the 'good little girlfriend' part and punched him in the back, jackass.

Sofi did not look pleased, but she moved out of the way without another word and let us pass, glaring at Angel as he passed by her.

"_**I'm going to kill her!" I heard Bobby yell as he slammed the front door of the house and walked out to his car.**_

_**I hid a little as he passed by in his car, it was obvious that he was a little over pissed, and I didn't want to deal with him at the moment, especially when I was as strung out as I was. I didn't want to go into the house either, Miss Evelyn's car was in the driveway, and I could see Jack pacing on the front porch, he was biting his nails, something he only did when he was worried.**_

_**I didn't like the fact that I was making him worried, but I couldn't make myself stop doing what I was doing. Maybe my mom would come back if she realized how much of a mess I was without her here…maybe it would snap her into her senses.**_

_**With a sigh, I sat down, leaning against a dirty wall in the alley and watched as Miss Evelyn walked outside, talking to Jack for a moment. Miss Evelyn look just as worried as Jack, but in the state I was in, I really couldn't bring myself to care.**_

"_**Bobby's looking for her, he's not going to come back without her sweetie, now come inside, it's cold."**_

"_**What is she thinking mom? Danielle knows better than this."**_

_**Miss Evelyn nodded, "I know Jackie, but this is something she needs to do for herself. She's dealing with it the only way she can, and though I don't agree with it, I know that there's not much we can do but support her until Bobby straightens her out a little."**_

"_**Bobby better bring her back in one piece. He doesn't exactly know how to straighten people out in a good way." Jack sighed, and sat down on the porch.**_

"_**He will Jackie. I told him not to go overboard with getting onto her."**_

_**I snorted quietly from where I was hiding. I don't think Bobby knows how to **_**not **_**go overboard.**_

"_**Mom, this is Bobby we're talking about."**_

_**Miss Evelyn chuckled slightly, "Yes, but maybe that's what Danielle needs. She's always seen Bobby as a father figure, who could get her straight better than him?"**_

"_**I don't know. You maybe?" Jack looked at her questioningly, and I could almost see the pleading look in his eyes.**_

"_**I can't do that Jack. This is something Bobby's got to do."**_

"_**Okay."**_

"_**Trust me Jack, Bobby knows what he needs to do."**_

_**Jack only nodded, choosing to stay quiet.**_

"Okay, you guys ready to do this?" Bobby walked to the back door of the house and broke a window, pushing his hand in and turning the knob from the inside and unlocking the house.

He walked in, the rest of us right behind him. A small white dog walked up to us, causing Bobby to laugh and pick him up.

"Awh look, it's a little Jackie puppy. You're not going to bite me are you?"

He laughed and the rest of us split up for a moment, looking around for a moment until Jack called us over to a apple laptop.

"Hey do you guys think that EM means Evelyn Mercer?" he asked. I stood behind him, watching as he looked through more files.

"Someone help! People are breaking into the house."

I looked up, glaring at Angel, "Man, I'm going to kill your girlfriend."

"How'd she know where this place was?" Bobby glared as Angel shrugged.

"Who the hell knows man."

"Well, shut her up then." Jack looked at Angel annoyed, and we all ran outside, watching as Angel grabbed Sofi and covered her mouth for a moment, telling her to be quiet.

I stood back watching the scene as a car parked in the driveway behind me. Turning, I looked at the lawyer as he got out of the car, looking at us with a scared expression.

"Bobby, we need to go."

"No," he walked over to the lawyer and pushed him down into the snow, "He's going to tell me why he lied about only meeting my mother once."

I watched as he pulled up the guys shirt and smacked him in the stomach, laughing slightly as Angel did the same thing.

"Bobby, stop. Let's go."

"Not until he tells me why he lied."

He smacked the man again, and I sighed, "Calm the hell down man."

Bobby ignored me, "Tell me why you lied to me."

"I…I…" the man sputtered scared, "You're mother and I had been seeing each other…intimately."

Bobby stopped short, causing all of us to do double takes. Seeing each other intimately?

Well that was new.

Bobby helped him stand up and straightened his clothes for a moment, "Um…I apologize sir. We, uh, we broke your back window…we're just trying to find out what happened to our mom.

"It's alright I understand. And I'm sorry for not telling you the truth earlier, I didn't want to spoil the views of your mother."

Bobby shook his head, "No, it's okay. We understand."

"Before you leave, I have some…night things of your mother's. Would you like to take them with you?"

"N-night things?" I smiled as Bobby stuttered nervous now, "No, you can keep them. Thank you though."

"Absolutely."

And with that we walked away, walking the two blocks where Jerry had hid his Volvo.


	16. Chapter 16

I leaned against Jack, closing my eyes for a moment as Jerry drove. Bobby, Angel, and Jerry were talking about Miss Evelyn's intimate relationship with the lawyer. I found it funny that they were so surprised, Angel and Bobby had stopped coming home three years ago, it's not like Miss Evelyn wasn't allowed to move on.

"I just can't believe this. Ma never told us."

"That's because you were always hard to get a hold of Bobby." Jerry answered from the driver's seat.

"Yeah, but…I just can't see Ma with a boyfriend."

"She had a life outside of us man." Jack answered softly.

"What do you think Danny?"

I didn't answer, staying perfectly still, hopefully he'd think I was asleep.

"She's sleeping Bobby."

"_**Danielle, I swear to god, if I ever bring you home strung out again, I'm going to kill you and bury you into the back yard." Bobby yelled. I stood there, not listening as he continued to yell.**_

_**I wanted to go to sleep, all the heroin was slowly flushing out of my system and now I wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and pass out.**_

"_**Danielle, are you listening to me?"**_

_**I nodded slowly, not looking at him as he continued to yell.**_

"_**Bobby, just leave her alone." Jack said from the doorway.**_

_**He'd been watching Bobby yell at me for the last ten minutes, not really helping me out when that's all I needed right now.**_

"_**Stay the hell out of this Jack. It's none of your business."**_

"_**Yes it is Bobby."**_

_**I rolled my eyes and turned, walking away now, "Danielle stay here."**_

"_**No Bobby." I turned and glared now, annoyed, "Leave me alone, and stay the fuck out of my life."**_

_**I pushed past Jack and walked upstairs, slamming my door and falling on my bed. I just wanted to fall asleep and now I was too wired up to do it.**_

_**Damn Bobby.**_

"_**Danielle?" Jack's timid voice called from my door.**_

"_**Go away." I groaned, I covered my head with a pillow as Jack walked in.**_

"_**Danny, what are you doing?" Jack sighed and sat down on the bed, I closed my eyes, using the pillow to keep the light out of my eyes, I didn't want to look at Jack, didn't want to see the haunted memories he thought of when he saw me like this.**_

_**But at the same time, I was to wired to care, I just wanted to be left alone, I didn't need their help.**_

"_**Danielle, please talk to me."**_

"_**Leave me alone."**_

_**He sighed again and I felt as he stood up, after a moment he ripped the pillow from my hands and I shielded my eyes from the light, "What the hell man?"**_

"_**Listen to me Danielle, this is dangerous. It can kill you."**_

_**I rolled my eyes, "So the hell what Jack."**_

"_**Danielle!"**_

_**The voice that spoke then startled me, I had thought Miss Evelyn was out, Bobby'd said she had gone to work for a kid. This was the one thing that scared me, I didn't want Miss Evelyn to see me like this. Screw Bobby and Jack, Miss Evelyn was the one woman in the world that could make even the worst fuck up a little better than they were. She'd tamed Bobby, she sure as hell could tame me, and I wasn't even that bad.**_

"_**Jack, please go down and talk to Bobby, he needs to calm down before he breaks something."**_

_**Jack nodded and Miss Evelyn sat down on my bed looking at me with a fierce look in her eye.**_

"_**If I ever hear you say something like that again Danielle, I will let Bobby drill into you. I understand that you're going through a lot right now, but that gives you no right to act like this. I will **_**not **_**tolerate this behavior."**_

"_**Yes Miss Evelyn."**_

_**She stood up then, brushing some of my hair out of my face for a moment, "Good, now go to sleep."**_

I woke up slightly as Jack moved, getting out of the car.

"Do you want me to get her Jack?" I heard Bobby asked.

"No, I got it."

Someone picked me up, slowly getting me out of the car and began walking. The screen door of Miss Evelyn's porch swung shut and then I heard the front door open before walking up the stairs and laying me on a bed.

I turned over, pushing my face into the pillows and being blown away by Jack's scent for a moment. I seriously loved this smell…I just wanted to bottle it up and carry it around with me. It was a really comforting smell, leather and cologne…and it was something I wanted to keep with me always.

"Danny, if you take all the blankets tonight I'm kicking you out." Jack whispered in my ear.

I smiled, "You're the one that keeps pushing them off you dumbass."

He laughed, "Whatever."

"_**Did you know that when she was eight, her mother kicked her out of the house?"**_

_**I turned around and glared at the cheerleader who had spoken. The fake blonde snickered at me when she saw that I was looking and I glared.**_

"_**Yeah, it's true Brittany, I lived on the streets until I was eleven. And you wanna know what I learned?"**_

_**Brittany yawned for a moment, "What's that Danielle, how to correctly smoke a pipe?"**_

"_**No, how to kick your fake ass."**_

_**That seemed to take her off guard. No one fought with me, not since Bobby and I had beaten the quarter back. I'd at least broken his jaw before Bobby had had to interject, so everyone knew I could hold my own.**_

_**She smiled again, "Now why would I want to fight you Danielle? You seem a little tired, you might need to take another hit. Maybe you should talk to Victor."**_

"_**Danny, ignore her." Jack said from beside me.**_

_**Currently we were sitting in our chemistry class, waiting for the teacher to come in…and of course someone had to start on that. When I told Victor that I wouldn't sleep with him to get all that he promised me, he'd told everyone…the asshole.**_

"_**Why don't you shut you stupid mouth Brittany."**_

_**I went to stand up, but Jack grabbed my hand and shook his head, not looking up from the sheet music he was trying to memorize, "Ignore her."**_

"_**Jack leave me alone."**_

_**I went to pulled my hand away, but Jack's grip tightened, surprising me. He usually just let me get myself into trouble, I didn't understand why he was stopping me this time.**_

_**I sighed and turned my back to Brittany, clenching my fists when she started again.**_

"_**Jack." I whined.**_

_**He looked up then and smiled, "Trust me Danny."**_

"_**Why?"**_

"_**Just trust me."**_

"Danielle." I turned over, ignoring the voice that was laughing and calling my name. I didn't want to wake up now.

"Danny." The voice grew closer to my ear and I could hear the smile in their voice as they spoke.

I continued to ignore them until the covers were taken off of me, I shivered as the cold air reached me and groaned.

"Danny, get up." I opened my eyes and saw Jack laughing above me.

"You, sir, are an asshole."

Jack laughed again and shook his head. When I finally woke up enough, I noticed that he was wearing a towel around his waist and his hair was soaked, I could hear Bobby yelling about writing a book on finesse.

"Um…do I even want to know what the hell Bobby is yelling about?" I sat up and stretched for a moment before standing up, going out the door to let Jack get dressed.

"I'll tell you in a minute."

I nodded and shut the door behind me, smiling for a moment, that scene probably just made my day.

I walked down the stairs passing by Angel for a moment, "Hey Ang, what's Bobby screaming about?"

"Jerry's not telling us something." Angel said. He was sitting on the couch, he looked exhausted, like he'd been up all night.

I sat down across from him, "What do you mean?"

"He's gone bankrupt Danny. His big dream about that rundown, piece of shit building, that's all down the drain. And, he got some big check after mom died, I don't know exactly what's going on yet…so I haven't exactly told Bobby everything, he jumps to conclusions a bit fast."

I nodded, "I won't tell him yet. But I'm not going to be helping you guys today either. I've got some stuff I'm doing."

"What's that?"

I looked back, raising an eye brow as Bobby walked in, rubbing his hand over one of his many tattoos.

"I'm going to see if I can find out who Daniel Love is." I shrugged, I figured that I needed a break from the revenge to find something out about my family, the guys would hopefully understand that.

Bobby nodded at me, "Alright fine, are you going to need a ride?"

"No, I've still got a bit of money, I'm gonna rent a car."

Bobby nodded again, "I'm gonna leave a gun here, I want you to take it with you, keep it in the glove box or something."

"Thanks Bobby."

"Don't thank me. How do you think Jackie would react if something happened to you, huh? He'd die."

I laughed, "God Bobby, it, good to know that you care for me."

"I do care about you. I'm just mostly worried about how moping the fairy's gonna be if something happens."

"I love you too Bobby."

_**I walked down the street, ignoring the looks from people as I passed by them, they'd all heard the rumors that my mom was abusive, and that now I was a drug addict.**_

_**Both were technically true, but it's not like everyone had to keep talking about it. I was living with the Mercer's now, they should have expected me to become a screw up.**_

"_**Did you know that she used to be a straight A student? I don't understand how a mother could leave that behind."**_

"_**She just needs a little direction. Evelyn Mercer will help her, I know Bobby's going to try to keep her straight."**_

"_**Did you know that the Michigan Mauler has been bringing her home every night strung out. Evelyn must be extremely worried if she's having Bobby take care of this."**_

_**I sighed, trying to drown out everyone. All I'd heard in the past month was that it was a horrible thing that my mom had left, and that they were all surprised that Bobby was being so patient with me.**_

_**That was something I had to laugh about, Bobby wasn't being patient, if I got yelled at one more time by him, I probably wasn't going to come home. I didn't need him telling me that I was a piece of shit, I already knew that. I mean, neither of my parents wanted me, it was pretty obvious that I was just a waste of space.**_

"_**You know, I hear that she's been hanging out with Victor a lot. Who knows what they're doing together."**_

_**I rolled my eyes, Victor and I actually weren't hanging out anymore, I hadn't hung out with Victor since the night he shorted me, I was hanging out with another person now. Jackson Smith was great for when you needed a fix, granted, he couldn't get you the best like Victor, but it was much better than nothing.**_

"_**Danielle?"**_

_**I turned, looking at Jack as he walked toward me. Georgia and Peter were sitting at out old table, watching us now as we walked, I hadn't sat with them in a month, and I hoped that they understood that I had some shit going on.**_

_**We walked to the nearest vacant table and Jack handed me an apple, raising an eyebrow when I pushed it back at him.**_

"_**You know what mom said Danny. She'll call Kevin."**_

_**I shrugged, "So what."**_

"_**Kevin's not going to like that you're starving yourself."**_

"_**I'm not starving myself, I'm just not hungry Jack."**_

_**He sighed, "Babe, you've lost a lot of weight, it's unhealthy."**_

"_**Jack, please just drop it."**_

_**He sighed and put the apple in front of me again, taking a bite of his own and looking at me, an eyebrow raised.**_

_**Rolling my eyes, I picked the apple up and took a bite, forcing it down my throat as I swallowed.**_

"I'll see you guys later, be safe okay." I hugged Jack and watched as they walked away, getting into Bobby's newly fixed car.

Jack stuffed his hands in his jacket and I smiled, he looked just like he had when we were sixteen and Bobby was forcing us to walk to school.

God…Bobby was an asshole.

…

An hour later, my rental car was paid for and I was on my way to the public records office, maybe they could tell me a website to go find my dad.

_**I sat on the sidewalk, contemplating on whether or not I wanted to go home. Bobby had been screaming at me today and as I promised myself, I left the house…that's not something I wanted to have to deal with today.**_

_**I put my head in my hands and sighed, I was shaking again, ever since Bobby'd taken away my stash and my way of getting money I'd been shaking. Withdraws were a bitch.**_

"_**Danielle." I pulled back into the shadows as Bobby, Jerry, and Angel called my name. I didn't want to go home, I was tired of them always trying to act like they were the boss, but they weren't. I was the boss of myself now…that's what happened when my mom left, I became the only person I was responsible for anymore.**_

_**I shook harder as I continued to listen to the three of them yelling my name.**_

"_**Danielle?"**_

_**Still shaking, I looked over and saw Jack slowly walking toward me, "Danielle, are you alright?"**_

"_**N-no."**_

_**He leaned down and put his arms around me, pulling me into him as I started to shake harder. I felt like I was going to be sick, I need a hit and I needed one now.**_

"_**I'm going to pick you up okay Danny. You need to go home."**_

_**I shook my head, "I d-don't want t-to."**_

"_**Please."**_

_**Jack looked at me, that familiar pleading look in his eyes covering up all of the hurt he'd had to go through when he was a kid.**_

"_**F-fine."**_

_**He picked me up and walked out of the alley, calling Bobby when we were fully out.**_

"_**We need to get her home guys, let's go."**_

_**Bobby looked at me, the angry look gone from his eyes, worry replacing it for a moment, "Come on."**_

"Hello, I'm Danielle Love, the girl that called you." I shook hands with an older woman named Tina and smiled slightly as she led me toward a computer.

"Now, I must tell you, I did some searching after our phone call and I found a man named Daniel Love that used to live here. Would you like to see that as well?"

I nodded, a bit surprised, "Yes please."

Tina smiled at me and led me toward the back of the building, I looked around, seeing large brown books on shelves.

"Here we are."

We stopped at a table and Tina pulled a book over to the two of us, point to a name on the middle of the page, the words **Daniel Love **popping out immediately.

"And, I did a little more searching and found that this man now lives in Tennessee with a wife and a teenage daughter."

I looked over at Tina, this woman was quite helpful, "Thank you."

"Now, I can't legally do this, but I also found his number on the internet, he's a lawyer." Tina paused and pulled a small piece of paper, "Here's the number. If you need a phone there's one in the office you can use."

I bit my lip for a moment, "Thank you Tina."

"You're welcome sweetie."

She left me there to stare at the number on the paper she gave me. Did I want to call him? Did I want to find out that he was in fact my dad…but didn't actually want me?

What if he was worse than my mom?

I sighed, this was way harder than it should be.

I licked my lips and stood up then, walking toward the counter, "Ma'am, may I use that phone please?"

"Absolutely." Tina smiled and led me into her office, handing me her phone and left the room, giving me some privacy as I dialed the number and listened to the phone ring.

"Hello?" The voice on the other side of the phone had a deep voice that seemed filled with a type of authority that not many people in Detroit had.

"Is this Daniel Love?"

"Yes, who is this?"

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to put this, "Um…my name is Danielle Love…my mother was Elaine Porter."

"Elaine?" Daniel seemed extremely surprised at the mention of her name, "I haven't seen her for at least twenty years. How is she?"

I let out a breath, "Well...I don't exactly know. She disappeared when I was sixteen."

"How old are you now?"

"Twenty-one."

Daniel was quite on the other end for a moment, "What are you calling me for exactly?"

"Well…I just got my birth certificate about a month ago, and it had your name listed as my father."

"Uh-huh. Is there something you want?" Daniel seemed annoyed now, like I only wanted money or something.

I backtracked for a moment, "N-no. Well, yeah I guess. What I wanted was to know that you existed really. My mom wasn't exactly the best mom in the world…and I'd always wondered who my dad was, I guess I just needed something that connected me to someone or something. Sir, I'm not looking for money, or your love. Hell, I'm not even looking for your approval, all I really wanted to do is know that you existed."

"Oh." He was quiet then, thinking something over, "Did Elaine ever talk about me?"

I sighed, "No…she didn't really talk much about her past to me. She was always drinking."

"Yeah, that was a problem."

"Tell me about it."

"Did she ever hit you?"

My breath caught in my throat for a moment, I didn't quite understand that he would be able to guess that.

"Well um…I…that's not something I really want to talk about."

"I understand."

We were both quiet then, both trying to figure out what to say to the other person.

"Are you living in Detroit?"

"Right now yeah...the woman that took me in after my mom left was shot and killed a month ago and I came back with her sons for the funeral."

Daniel sighed, "Look, I'm actually coming to Detroit in a month to see my mother. Would you like to meet sometime while I'm here?"

"Um…" I thought about it for a moment, "Sure, why not."

Daniel laughed on the other end, "Do you have a cell phone?"

"Yeah I do."

"Can I have your number?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and then caved, giving him my number and then hanging up the phone. I walked out of Tina's office and thanked her quietly, lost in thought as I left the building and got into my car.


	17. Chapter 17

I walked into the bowling alley, ignoring the drug dealers that stood in the corners, waiting for customers to come and buy from them.

"Danny, over here."

I walked over to where Jack was waving over at me and grabbed the beer from Jack, "Hey guys."

"What'd you find out today Danny?"

"…I talked to my dad today."

"Really?"

I nodded, "Yeah, if was pretty…weird."

"But, it went well I take it?" Bobby asked me, he took a sip of his beer and looking at me as he waited for an answer.

"Yeah I guess. He's flying down here so see his mom or something in a month…he asked if we could meet." I took a swig of my own beer, "He's a lawyer man."

Bobby raised his eyebrows for a moment, "A lawyer, that's always good to have in the family."

"Yeah, especially when you're in that family."

"Ouch."

I turned to Angel then who was currently looking around the bowling alley, as if waiting for someone.

"What's going on Ang?"

"We're waiting for someone."

"Oh hey, do you guys remember a Victor Sweet?"

Angel crossed his arms, "I remember a Malcolm Sweet."

"Victor was his errand boy."

"Victor was the dealer for Malcolm." I answered.

They nodded, "Okay why?"

"Well, do you remember Evan?"

"Yeah, he worked with Jerry during his Union days." I said.

I was curious about where Bobby was going with this.

"Well, it seems like Jerry and Evan have some unfinished business with each other."

Bobby nodded his head over in the direction of Evan and I watched as Jerry walked toward him, looking incredibly suspicious as he did so.

"Shit man." I sighed, and shook my head, watching Jerry as he spoke to Evan and handed him a manila envelope.

Jerry walked away then, leaving the bowling alley.

"Come on, let's go."

Jack and I followed Bobby and Angel toward Evan.

"Evan."

Said man turned around, and upon seeing Bobby, his eyes grew wide.

"Come on kids, let's go."

"I don't think so." Bobby stood in front of Evan, blocking his path to his kids, "Give me the envelope from Jerry now."

"W-what envelope?"

"Are you really going to pull that bullshit with me with your kids right here?" Bobby pulled his jacket back a bit, revealing his gun and Evan sighed, quickly giving us the envelope before leaving with his family.

Angel opened the envelope, revealing wads of money.

"The bastard's been paying Victor Sweet off."

"Let's go, we need to talk to Jerry. Now."

We walked out of the bowling alley and I walked to Bobby's car, "You're gonna have to bring me back here when we're done."

"Did you lock your car?"

I rolled my eyes, "Do I look stupid to you?"

_**I sat in my room, curled into a ball in the corner. I'd been here all morning, just shaking.**_

_**Damn Bobby had to take my stash and now I was going through withdraws.**_

_**This week had seriously sucked.**_

"_**Danielle?" The door opened and I heard the timid footsteps of Jack coming into my room. He sighed, unable to see where I was hiding for a moment, probably thinking I snuck out again, he walked back out of the room and called Bobby who came in, Jack following him and looking around.**_

"_**Damn it Danielle."**_

"_**I-I'm right h-here."**_

_**They both turned and walked toward my hiding spot, kneeling down in front of me.**_

"_**How long have you been here?" Bobby asked, I didn't look at him, instead, I chose to look down at my knees and shrug. I didn't know how long ago I'd fallen on the ground shaking and crawled over here. To me, it felt like hours, but who knows, it could have only been minutes.**_

_**Bobby began speaking again but I didn't hear him, I blocked out his voice, and laid my head onto my knees.**_

_**He sighed and I felt the floor disappear from beneath me, a rocking started as Bobby walked me into the bathroom.**_

_**I leaned against the toilet, feeling sick suddenly as I sat there.**_

"_**B-bobby…I h-hate you."**_

_**Bobby nodded, "You will for a couple of days Danielle. But trust me, you're going to thank me for this later."**_

"I ain't playing no more. I'm gonna go in there and bust that melon." Bobby unbuckled his seat belt and went to get out of the car when Jack grabbed his shoulders from behind him, making him calm down a little.

"Hey, his family's in there."

Angel sighed, "Bobby, you're gonna have to calm down."

"Oh, I'm calm. He thinks I'm an idiot…he thinks I don't know what the fuck is going on."

"Bobby, seriously, calm down."

I took out a cell phone and dialed Jerry's number, looking at Bobby, "Hey Jerry. The guys want you to meet them at Miss Evelyn's house tomorrow morning okay."

"Is everything okay?" Jerry asked. He sounded stress, more stressed than he had when I saw him for the funeral and I felt bad.

"I don't really know right now okay Jer. Just…make sure you're there tomorrow."

"I will."

We hung up then and I looked over at Angel from the driver's seat, "Take me to my car please. I can drive Jack home too."

"Alright."

Angel put the car in gear and turned the car around, going back to the bowling alley.


	18. Chapter 18

"I'm not going to be here for this Bobs." I turned to look at Bobby for a moment before I grabbed my car keys off the table, "I'll see you guys later alright."

"Maybe you should take Jackie with you."

I shook my head, "I already asked him. Jack said he didn't want to come."

Bobby nodded and let me walk out of the house, walking to the front door and watching as I got into my car, pulling out of the driveway and going down the street.

I knew where I was going, I'd been wanting to go there for a month, but everything had been so hectic I hadn't had time to go. I sighed, following the familiar road toward the cemetery where Miss Evelyn's grave was. There was so much that I wanted to talk to her about, so much that I needed her guidance on right now, and she wasn't here, not that I blamed her, it wasn't her fault at all.

But, I found myself wishing that it had been anyone else but Miss Evelyn, I knew it was bad, but I also couldn't help but think that way.

"_**So Danielle, how are you feeling?"**_

_**I glared at Bobby from where I was laying on the bathroom floor. I seemed to be sleeping in here quite a lot lately.**_

"_**I hate you Bobby. I seriously hate you."**_

_**Bobby laughed at me and grabbed my hand, roughly pulling me up.**_

"_**I'm not gonna lie to you girl, you seriously look like shit."**_

"_**I hate you."**_

_**He laughed again and pulled me out of the bathroom, dragging me down into the kitchen where I was pushed into a chair before I could say anything.**_

"_**Now, I want to talk to you about where you got your stash because Jack wouldn't tell me." Bobby sat down across from me, his face suddenly serious.**_

_**I sighed and looked at the doorframe which had just filled with Jack. He leaned into the wood, his arms crossed as he looked at me, a similarly serious face on his face as well.**_

"_**I…I don't know what you're talking about."**_

_**Still tired, I couldn't think of a better answer than that. I didn't want to tell him because I didn't want my dealer to disappear…he was my only connection besides Victor, and I didn't want to deal with Victor anymore.**_

_**Bobby rolled his eyes, "Are you stupid Danielle? Tell the who the hell is supplying you."**_

"_**Victor Sweet."**_

_**Bobby looked at me, "Just Victor?"**_

"_**Yeah."**_

_**He didn't look convinced as he continued to look at me, his serious look in his eyes turning into one of annoyance. Bobby knew that he wasn't going to get anything else out of me, it was obvious, I didn't want to give him the answer, but I was also sure that I wouldn't be able to get anything from Leroy for a few days.**_

"_**Just leave me alone Bobby." I stood up and walked to the doorframe, "Move Jack."**_

_**He shook his head, his blond hair falling in front of his blue eyes, covering up his serious blue eyes, "No Danielle. Tell him or I will."**_

"_**This is none of your damn business."**_

_**I went to push Jack, but he grabbed my wrists, staring at me in that way he usually did when he was trying to get something.**_

"_**Tell him now."**_

"_**What are you my mother?" I yelled, Jack's eyes widened at my tone, I didn't yell at him, that was something I just never did, it freaked him out, "I didn't think so. So get the hell out of my way Jack."**_

_**He dropped my wrists and I pushed him slightly, it was weak, but he moved out of my way, allowing me to walk into the hallway and out the front door.**_

"_**I hate you guys!" I looked back at the Miss Evelyn's house and yelled, ignoring the surprised looks from the neighbors.**_

I sighed, parking my car in the parking lot and got out of my car, pulling a bouquet of flowers out with me. I looked down at the roses and frowned, pulling one of the brown buds off a stem as I walked down the walkway, following the trail to Miss Evelyn's grave.

"Hey Miss Evelyn." I leaned down, placing the roses at the gravestone and biting my lip.

"So, I know that it's been a month, and no one has come to see you. I'm really sorry about that, but we've been a bit busy with…stuff." I paused and laughed. Miss Evelyn knew what we were doing, I didn't need to sugar coat it.

"We all miss you. We're literally going crazy without you. But I guess you already know all of this though."

I really didn't know what I was doing now. It had seemed like such a good idea to come here this morning…and it was a perfect way to get away from the house so I could avoid seeing Bobby, Angel, and Jerry fighting. I wish Jack had said he would come, this wasn't something he needed to see.

"I'm really worried about your sons Miss Evelyn. This thing had really torn us apart…and it's scaring Jack, he doesn't want us to know, but I can tell, whenever he looks at me…I can tell he's scared. I'm really worried that something's going to happen soon though…I mean, we've been able to get by without having much happen in retaliation…but that can't go on forever you know."

I could almost imagine myself sitting at the kitchen table across from Miss Evelyn, telling her about everything…every little thing that popped into my mind when we were talking. I could almost hear her chuckling at my farfetched fantasies and telling me not to worry about anything. Bobby'd take care of it.

I smiled, "Bobby's really sad Miss Evelyn. I actually saw him cry, I've never seen that man cry before, it was scary. It's so crazy without you at the house. You brought five messed up kids together and taught them the importance of what having a family is…and not one of us was able to stop all of this from happening…and each and everyone one of us regret it. It's like we all lost our sense of direction Miss Evelyn. We lost our centre."

I bit my lip, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening on spilling over. I wasn't going to cry, I wasn't going to allow myself to cry.

"I need to go."

I stood up, brushing my fingers on Miss Evelyn's grave stone and walked back to my car, turning it in the direction of home.

"_**So what exactly are we telling your mom?" I asked Jack.**_

_**Currently, we were sitting in a jail cell together, trying to figure out how to use our one phone call.**_

_**I began biting my nails, a nervous habit I'd picked up a couple of weeks ago.**_

"_**Better yet, what the hell are we going to tell Bobby?"**_

_**Jack looked over at me from where he was leaning on his knees, he looked extremely stressed out.**_

_**Maybe we shouldn't have stole that car after being caught drinking.**_

"_**It's not like we were drunk man, they can't just keep us here." I stood up and walked to the cell bars, slamming a fist on it, "You know, just because he's a Mercer and I'm living with him, doesn't give you douchebags a right to just lock us up. That's prejudice and I can totally get you guys in a load of shit for it."**_

_**Jack sounded off a nervous laugh from behind me, "They can do whatever they want Danny. No one cares about Detroit."**_

_**I turned to look at him, "Someone does…they have to. It's like the law or something."**_

"_**No it's not." He laughed again and stood up, "Hey, I'm ready for my phone call."**_

_**A cop grumbled something and we watched as he stood up, and opened our cell door, taking both of us out and leading us toward another barred room.**_

"_**Make it quick."**_

"_**Who're you calling?"**_

"_**Jerry." Jack took the phone off the wall and dialed Jerry's new number, "Hey Jerry…Um I have a favour to ask you."**_

_**He was quiet for a moment, "Well you see…Danielle and I kinda got arrested and we sorta need a ride out of here, without Bobby knowing about it."**_

_**Jack closed his eyes and smiled, "Thanks Jerry." He hung up and then looked at me, "Wanna call someone? I'm sure Bobby's still awake."**_

"_**Oh, I'm not going to be the one to tell him this one."**_

…

"_**I just don't understand what the two of you were thinking?" Jerry laughed as he drove us to Miss Evelyn's house, "I mean, I get that you guys had had a few drinks, but Jesus, why'd you steal a car…especially a cop car."**_

_**Jack and I looked at each other for a moment, it had been my idea to steal a car…and the car didn't exactly state that it was a cop car.**_

"_**Well…you see, the car didn't exactly say Detroit Police on it."**_

"_**Green already called ma, you know? She also told Bobby."**_

_**I sighed, "We're so screwed."**_

_**The laughter from Jerry grew louder at my comment as he continued to drive, he knew we were in trouble, this was a ride he'd taken quite a few times in his life. Not that he cared, he finally got to see his baby brother and I being reprimanded for our first time being arrested.**_

_**It was like the Mercer family tradition.**_

"_**Thanks for the support man."**_

I was pulled out of my thoughts by gun shots coming from down the street. My eyes widened when I saw where. Jack was on his knees in the middle of the street, a gun pointed at his head before Bobby shot the guy. It wasn't much longer that about four more gun man came running out, shooting Jack in the legs as he tried to run for cover. I leaned down for a moment and pulled Bobby's gun out of my glove box, leaning out my window and shooting at the other shooters.

After finding that I'd missed every shot and that I'd just alerted the shooters to my presence, I sped my car up, hitting one of the shooters and leaning down as another shot through the driver's side window, sending glass into my arm. Biting my lip and ignoring the blood, I grabbed my jacket from the floorboards and pushed glass out of the way as I crawled out of the passenger's side and over to Jack.

"Jackie…Jack?" I was yelling, listening as he yelled for Bobby and cried in pain.

Tears flooded my own eyes and I took my favorite jacket and tore a strip of it off, tying it tightly around Jack's shoulder, apologizing frantically as he winced in pain.

"Hold on Jack okay. Everything's going to be alright."

I continued tearing my jacket and tied it around his legs, looking around for something else to use to stop the bleeding. With no other alternatives, I got up a bit, being sure that the bullet's wouldn't fly through the car and, through a bout of adrenaline, I picked up Jack and laid him in the back seat of my car.

"Everything's going to be okay Jack…I promise."

I climbed back into the driver's seat and sped off, just missing another shooter in my hectic race to get to the hospital.

The whole way there I continued yelling, telling Jack that everything was going to be okay, the pain would stop soon. Nothing was going to happen to his brothers. But, with all of my assurances to Jack, I had a feeling that everything wasn't going to be okay. Something else had happened while I was gone and I was worried about everything.

Jesus, today just sucked.

"_**Did you know that thirteen people get crushed by vending machines each year?" I looked over at Jack, blushing as he pushed some hair out of my eyes and laughed at me.**_

"_**And you know this why?"**_

_**I shrugged, putting a dollar into the vending machine we were standing in front of and contemplated what I wanted to eat.**_

"_**I dunno."**_

_**Settling on a honey bun, I put the number in and reached in the machine to pull it out, looking back at Jack and pushing it toward him, "You get first bite."**_

"_**I'm glad you're eating again."**_

_**I smiled, "Well you know, jail really set me straight."**_

"_**Yeah, I can't believe Bobby drove us back there and made us stay the night."**_

_**We laughed for a moment, "I can, Bobby's a jerk."**_

"_**Thanks guys."**_

_**We turned and looked at Bobby. He was currently on the ice, waiting for the two of us to get on and start a hockey game, Jack flipped him off and took a bite of my honey bun, handing it to me as we walked toward the bleachers.**_

"_**Give us a minute Bobby Jesus."**_

I stopped right in front of the hospital doors and got out, feeling some of the glass in my arm get pushed in deeper at I forced the car door open and ran inside.

"Someone, you have to help, there was a shooting…and my friend is in the car, he's badly hurt."

I was still yelling and everyone looked at me with wide eyes. I knew that I probably looked horrible, my once white shirt was covered in both Jack's and my blood, turning it into a sickly looking red.

I repeated myself and finally, nurses sprung into action, a gurney was pushed out of a room and I led them to my car where they pulled Jack out and put him on the gurney, using an oxygen thing to pump air into him. I ran with them, not letting them look at my arm as they walked into another hallway and into a room.

"Ma'am, you're going to have to leave." I nurse said to me.

I shook my head frantically, "I'm not leaving him."

"Ma'am go."

"No!"

The nurse looked at two other males in the room and they were quickly replaced as I was pushed out of the room, a nurse trying to get me to come with her so that she could get the glass out of my arm.


	19. Chapter 19

"Danielle, are you okay?" Bobby ran down the hall toward where I was pacing. My arm had been stitched up by one of those forceful male nurses and I was currently standing in front of the room they'd taken Jack into to perform surgery. That'd been two hours ago, and right now, all I wanted to do was fall down and cry. When Bobby got close enough, he seemed to be able to see this and he pulled me into him, hugging me tightly, "He's going to be okay Danny."

I started quivering, the adrenaline long gone from my system now, I needed to sit down or lie down…something.

"What all happened after I left?" I choked out.

Bobby let me go, "Well, the cops got there…Green said he had a dirty cop he had to take care of. We have a feeling that it's Fowler."

Bobby looked over at Angel and Jerry. Both Jerry and Bobby were shooting glares at each other and I knew exactly what was going through their minds. If the other had just not gone as far as they did to get what they wanted, Jack wouldn't be in the hospital room behind us undergoing surgery.

I was siding with Bobby though. If Jerry hadn't have done what he did, Jack wouldn't be here. Miss Evelyn would still be alive.

This was all that asshole's fault.

"What's he going to do about Fowler?"

"Who knows, but if he doesn't do something we're going to take care of it for him."

I nodded and leaned against the wall, "How's your arm feel?"

I looked at Bobby, "It's hurts like a bitch man."

"I'm sorry."

I made a face at him and then turned to look at the door as one of those male nurses came out, he reminded me of Ben Stiller in _Meet the Parents _and I really had to refrain myself from calling him Focker.

"He's going to be in surgery for at least another hour, you guys need to go wait in the waiting room. We already had to forcefully remove her from the room," The guy looked at me and I watched as Bobby's eyes narrowed into a glare for a moment, "Don't make me remove you from the premises."

"Don't you dare threaten me." Bobby replied in a dangerously low voice, "Do you even know who I am?"

The guy rolled his eyes, "No, and I don't care."

"I'm the fucking Michigan Mauler, and the guy in there is my little brother. You don't tell me what to do."

The guy's eyes widened then as he looked at all of us, you didn't mess with the Mercer family, even now, after we'd all been gone for years everyone still knew that. I guess everyone'd ingrained that into their children to.

Good, maybe this guy would learn some respect.

"I-I'm so sorry. But, it is going to take at least another hour, maybe you would be more comfortable in the waiting room, someone will come get you when we're done."

Bobby gave the guy one last glare before steering me away from the nurse and out of the hallway. We sat down in the waiting room, and I curled up in the chair, leaning into Bobby and closing my eyes.

"_**Hey Ang, when do you leave?"**_

_**I was leaning in the doorway, watching as Angel packed a duffle bag.**_

"_**I leave in an hour Danny."**_

_**I bit my lip, uncomfortable with that knowledge. Angel was leaving to go join the Marines, something that right now, I wasn't looking forward to. This was dangerous, and though I had no choice but to feel proud of him…he was doing something better with his life other than hustling.**_

"_**How long are you going to be at boot camp?"**_

"_**A year I think."**_

_**Angel didn't look up while I spoke to him, instead he was focusing on the book I'd given him only a year before, deciding whether or not he wanted to take it with him.**_

"_**Look Danielle, I'm going to keep in touch, I'll write every chance I get okay."**_

_**I shook my head, "No you won't. I'm not stupid Angel and I grew up with you. You're not exactly the best at keeping your word."**_

"_**Yeah, I guess you're right." Angel laughed and finally looked up, rolling his eyes at my pouting look, "I have to go Danielle. I signed up, knowing full well what was expected of me. Come on Danny…you know I can't just back out now."**_

_**I sighed, "I get that, but you didn't tell us."**_

"_**Ma knew."**_

"_**Well, it would've been nice if you'd've told us too."**_

_**Angel smiled at me, "You know, if I didn't know you better, I would think you were worried about me."**_

"_**N-no, I'm not. I'm just upset that you didn't tell me before hand."**_

"_**Yeah, yeah. Come on Danielle, you know you can't lie to me right."**_

_**I gave him a nervous smile, of course I couldn't lie to him, this whole family could see through a lie faster than anyone in the world.**_

"_**I'm going to miss you Ang."**_

"_**I'll miss you to Kiddo. And come one, I'll be home before you know it."**_

"_**Sure, sure."**_

"Um…guys, Jack's out of surgery."

I woke up quickly upon hearing Jack's name and looked into the older face of Georgia.

"Hey Danielle." She gave me a weak smile and waited as we all stood up, letting her lead us to an elevator, "Now, he's sleeping right now, we're going to be keeping him on morphine because he'll be in extreme pain otherwise. Um...when he wakes up, try not to stress him out, it could make his condition worse."

"Do you know when he's going to wake up?" I asked, looking at Georgia.

She shrugged, "I'm not exactly sure, but it shouldn't be too long."

We walked out of the elevator and continued following Georgia down a series of halls, finally stopping at a door.

"He's in there. Just please remember, no stress."

We all nodded and the brothers walked in the hospital room quietly, all looking down at their little brother, concern showing fiercely in their eyes.

"Thanks Georgia."

She nodded and we hugged for a moment before she walked away, leaving me to walk into the hospital room as well, sitting down in one of the chairs and watched Jack's chest move slowly up and down.

"Danny, do you want me to go get you a new shirt or something?" I looked away from Jack's form to look up at Bobby. He was looking at my shirt, the once white fabric stained with both Jack's blood and mine.

I shook my head, not wanting to speak, I felt almost like I had the day my mom had left. But, instead of feeling abandoned, I felt angry, and depressed, and I was just so pissed off that Bobby, Jerry, and Angel had let this happen. They were supposed to protect him, not let him get hurt, they promised that to him the day he was adopted.

"Come one Danny, that shirt needs to be thrown away or something."

"Bobby just shut the fuck up and leave me alone." I glared at him now, he needed to leave me alone, I need him to leave me alone. Right now all I wanted to do was yell at him and tell him that it was partially his fault that this happened.

Bobby should have been paying attention to Jack, he knew that Jack didn't like confrontations, they shouldn't have been arguing in front of them.

Assholes.

Bobby nodded and turned around again, for once doing as I asked. We were all freaked out right now, and the brothers knew that this was their faults. They all knew, and not one of them gave a shit.

"I'm going to go get some food. Do you guys want anything?" Angel sighed and looked at us.

"No, but we'll come with you." Bobby and Jerry stood up from where they were sitting and all looked at me.

"I'm fine, thanks."

They left the room and I moved closer to Jack's bed, grabbing one of his hands and laying my head on the hospital bed.

"Damn it Jack, you better not just leave me with these guys…you can't just die, do you hear me. You have to…you have to stay okay. That's not an option, or a request, that's like…like an order." I bit my lip, trying not to cry for the second time today.

I'd already lost Miss Evelyn, I couldn't lose Jack too. I would die if I lost Jack, he was the only thing that kept me sane. He was the only one who didn't stop trying after my mom left, and if I lost that I would have absolutely nothing. Jack was the last person in this world that knew me the way he and Miss Evelyn did. I wasn't as close to Bobby, Jerry, or Angel as I was to Jack, mostly because I'd cut myself off from almost everyone after my mom left.

"Jackie…" I sighed, not knowing exactly how to say this. I wanted to say it outright…but, I just didn't know how to…I'd never told anyone this, I didn't know how to say it now, "Jack, I'm only going to say this once…and if you don't stay alive after this…I'm going to be upset. Like super upset."

I paused…trying to force the words out of my mouth, it's not that I didn't not want to say it, I just didn't know _how_ to say it.

"I love you Jackie. Do you hear me Jack…I love you."

I let myself break then, letting the tears fall freely now. I couldn't lose Jack.

I just couldn't.

"_**You know that cats sleep for about sixteen to eighteen hours a day?"**_

_**I looked over at Jack, leaning closer into the window to look at the kittens. Jack smiled at me as I looked back at the window, making a face at the smallest kitten, a little silver spotted Bengal kitten that was putting it's paws up on the window, practically begging me to buy it.**_

"_**Why do you know all this random junk?" Jack asked me, smiling as cooed at the kitten.**_

_**I shrugged, "I don't know…do you think Miss Evelyn would be mad if I brought this one home? It's so cute…I want it."**_

"_**I doubt she'd be mad. Let's go get it." Jack grabbed my hand and led me into the pet shop, taking me straight to the kitten's and picking up the one I'd been looking at, "What're you going to name her?"**_

"_**I don't know, Moonlight looks about right." Jack handed me the kitten and I smiled up at him putting the kitten on the head, "Hey there Moonlight, do you want to come home with me and Jackie here?"**_

_**The kitten mewed and I laughed gleefully, I'd been saving up my allowance money for about three months now, and I'd been looking for something to spend it on, this kitten would be perfect.**_

"_**Sir, how much for this kitten?" I asked, putting Moonlight on the counter.**_

_**The man smiled, "forty dollars."**_

_**I nodded and pulled out my wallet, sifting through all of my junk in there to find the money.**_

"_**Here." I looked up as Jack handed the guy the money he'd been saving for a new guitar.**_

"_**W-what are you doing?" I pulled out my forty dollars and went to give Jack back his money, but he shook his head.**_

"_**I already have a guitar, besides this means you have to share the cat…it's like joint custody or something."**_

_**I laughed and thanked the man behind the counter before picking the kitten up and walking out of the pet shop, letting Moonlight snuggle into my jacket to get out of the cold.**_

"_**So this joint custody agreement, how exactly does it work?"**_

"_**You take care of the food and all that other junk…I get to play with it."**_

_**I shook my head, "Um no. If you want joint custody, you're going to have to help out with it to. This is like a marriage, we have a cute little kitten that we have to take care of now…you have to take some of the responsibility."**_

_**Jack put his arm around my shoulders and laughed, "I was kidding Danny, god. I'll help out with it."**_

"_**Moonlight."**_

"_**I'll help out with **_**Moonlight**_**. Jesus."**_

_**I smiled up at him and smiled as Moonlight stuck it's head out of the top of my jacket, purring at the warmth**__._

"Danny, are you okay?" I was still crying, my head still laying on Jack's bed when Bobby put a hand on my back.

"N-no, I'm n-not."

Bobby sighed, "Danielle, it's going to be okay."

"No, it's not Bobby. This is your fault, you should have known not to do this in front of Jack. What the hell is wrong with you?"

I looked up then, my eyes dangerously angry now, "I mean, are you stupid or something?"

Bobby looked surprised for a moment before his eyes fell, he felt the same way, "I know Danielle, I know."

"No, you don't know Bobby. You're supposed to protect him, you know that he doesn't like confrontations, he doesn't like yelling either. And what do you go right ahead and do? You go fight with each other right in front of him and not expect him to go answer the door? I mean come on, use you damn head."

I was practically yelling now, trying to force myself to keep my voice down. If Jerry had been in here I'd have been yelling at him too. How could they just forget something like that? I understand that they can be stupid sometimes, but this went beyond being stupid.

"Calm down Danny." Bobby raised his hands up in surrender, "I get it, you're pissed off. I'm sorry."

"Do you think just saying sorry is going to fucking make this all better? I mean really."

"I know Danielle. Calm down, and stop yelling, just hear me out for a moment okay. We have a plan."

"I'm helping you. I don't care what you say, but Victor is going to seriously be wishing he didn't mess with this family…" I was shaking, but it wasn't from crying now, I was so angry with everything right now.

Bobby smiled then, it was a wary smile, but one nonetheless, "Alright then, I guess I'll be modifying it a bit."


	20. Chapter 20

**Jack's Point of View:**

I woke up, instantly remembering the pain from being shot, it wasn't exactly the best memory to be thinking of as soon as I woke up, but I couldn't help it.

The next thing that came to mind was Danielle's frantic face, it looked just like she had when her mom left, lost and scared. I couldn't get that expression out of my mind for a moment as I looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out where exactly I was. I figured that it was a hospital, judging from the IV that was hooked up into my hand and that annoying beeping.

I sighed, looking around the room now, seeing the sleeping form of Danielle in the chair right next to my bed. She looked exhausted and extremely stressed, even as she was sleeping. I felt bad, knowing that it was my fault that she was stressed, maybe I should stop answering doors.

Danielle was holding my hand and as I looked down at her, her grip tightened, like she was having a nightmare. I wanted to wake her up, but I knew that she also needed the sleep. I bit my lip, worried for a moment before Bobby walked in, a surprised look on his face when he saw that I was awake.

"Hey Cracker Jack."

I smiled slightly at him, I felt like shit right now, not that it wasn't exactly surprising, but I didn't feel like talking.

"I'm sorry kid. Danielle's pissed off at me…just so you know. She hasn't eaten either, you're going to have to talk to her about that one, she only listens to you anyway."

I looked away from him at the sound of Danielle's name and smiled down at her, it looked like whatever had bothered her while she was sleeping was gone now, her face was smoothed out, no traces of stress or fear.

_**I walked into the house, staying close to the white haired lady that was taking me in currently. I didn't exactly want to meet the other people in the house, in fact, I would have preferred staying on the streets, I'd done that before already, and it wasn't as hard as everyone else made it seem.**_

"_**Trust me Jack, everything's going to be alright. You get that cast off in a couple of months and everything here will be good for you."**_

_**I nodded, I wasn't speaking anymore, not since the last three foster homes got violent when they heard anything from you. According to them, children were to neither be seen nor heard; they were only taking in foster kids for the money anyway, which wasn't anything new. That's why most people took kids in.**_

"_**Now Jack, I know that you're not comfortable around boys, but I have three sons, they won't do anything to hurt you, that I can promise."**_

_**I nodded again, slower this time, I didn't want to be around older boys again, but I was glad that she wasn't married. It always seemed to be the husbands that enjoyed…doing things.**_

_**I bit my lip, not wanting to think about the last foster home and followed her inside where everyone was waiting on the steps. It surprised me at first to see the diversity of the three guys. Two of them were black, the other, and obviously oldest was white, and he had a little girl around my age hiding behind him, clutching his hand as she looked at me with curious blue eyes.**_

_**It was surprising to see her clinging to the oldest guy, like he was her protector or something…I could clearly see the large bruise on her face, but, it didn't look like it was made by the guy, it was too small, maybe this white haired woman had something to do with it.**_

"_**Alright Jackie. These are my sons, Bobby, Jeremiah, and Angel; and the little girl right behind Bobby is Danielle. She's our next door neighbor and spends most of her nights over here."**_

_**The girl, Danielle stepped forward and smiled at me, waving for a moment, trying to get some sort of reaction out of me. I ignored her, looking away I wasn't going to get in trouble because this girl wanted to be friends. I didn't make friends in foster homes anyway, that always resorted into trouble. Especially if one of these people were hitting her, I didn't want anything to do with something like that.**_

_**The older woman watched the two of us and frowned slightly before speaking again.**_

"_**Anyway, I'm going to go cook dinner, Danny you and Jack can go into the living room and watch some tv and I would like the three of you to come help me."**_

_**Danielle nodded from the corner of my eye, she smiled again and motioned for me to follow her into the living room. Unable to think of any better alternatives, I followed her sitting down on the farthest chair away from her and sat down, looking at my cast.**_

_**I'd heard that sometimes people would sign casts…I'd had more than I cared to remember, and I'd never have anyone sign it. I sighed quietly, looking at Danielle from the corner of my eye, she was small, with large curious blue eyes and long brown hair that she kept pushing out of her face. She was short though, shorter than normal eight year olds, but she also had a bright face, like no matter what she'd always be happy.**_

_**It was a little weird, seeing her laughing at the TV at something that was completely stupid.**_

"_**So…um, you're name's Jack?" She asked.**_

_**Her voice reminded me of her eyes, curious, always asking questions.**_

_**I only nodded.**_

"_**That's cool." She seemed at a loss for words and I felt bad, she was trying to talk to me, but I didn't really want to talk to anyone. I was still trying to figure these people out, and that didn't involve talking to them.**_

"How long have I been out?" I let Bobby help me sit up, and watched as he took a seat on the other side of the bed.

Bobby shrugged, "I'm not exactly sure. About a day maybe, Danny would know that. She hasn't left the room or anything man."

"Sounds like her." I smiled again, squeezing her hand for a moment.

"She finally said she loved you man."

I looked up surprised there, "How d'you know that?"

"Well, she thought that we had left to go get some food, we kinda figured that she needed some alone time, you know. And we were standing outside for a while, listening to what she was saying and finally, she just said it outright, no beating around the bush like she does." Bobby smiled at me and ruffled my hair a bit, softer than usual.

"When do I get out of here?"

"They're not sure. But, you're not really going anywhere anytime soon."

"No duh Bobby." I moved a little and groaned slightly, if this was going to hurt whenever I moved maybe I should have just stayed asleep.

"You okay Cracker Jack?"

"Do I look okay?"

Bobby gave me a nervous smile but otherwise stayed quiet.

_**I walked out onto the porch, watching as Jeremiah and Angel bickered back and forth about hockey. Bobby was over at Danielle's house, picking her up to come hang out over here for the rest of the night.**_

"_**Hey lady, watch your damn mouth." I looked up, seeing Jeremiah and Angel do the same as Bobby yelled at Danielle's mom.**_

_**Danielle clutched at Bobby with one hand, she was holding her other hand oddly, and she had a fearful look on her face, something I had yet to see. I'd learned pretty quickly that it wasn't anyone in this house that was hitting Danielle, it was obvious in the way that they all treated her, they loved her like their own sister, and it didn't seem like they'd ever raise a hand against her.**_

_**I continued watching the scene that was beginning to evolve, Danielle flinched back from her mom for a moment and Bobby looked back at her, surprised to see her do that.**_

"_**Danielle Jacqueline Love get inside now!" Her mom was shrieking now and Bobby was starting to pull Danielle away from her, making sure that she stayed out of her mother's grip.**_

"_**Look lady, Danielle's staying with us until you get your shit together. Don't even think of coming to get her until then, you got that?" Bobby started yelling as well, but instead of staying there, he began walking away, Danielle following closely behind him. He stopped suddenly, looking down at her and leaned down, picking her up and walking quickly over to us.**_

_**Angel held the door open for Bobby, "Hey Danielle, you alright?"**_

"_**No she's not alright man. I think her mom broke her damn wrist." Bobby growled, he looked dangerously angry, but I wasn't afraid of him for once. This was a different kind of anger than I was used to, Bobby was extremely upset and he walked past me, taking a deep breath as he tried to calmed down. Danielle put her face into Bobby's shoulder, she was freaked out, I guess Bobby didn't usually yell at her mom or something, but she was seriously freaked.**_

"_**Ma?" I followed Bobby as he walked into the house, keeping my eyes on Danielle as she looked up, a little less afraid now.**_

_**Evelyn was knitting during an episode of **_**Days of Our Lives **_**that was turned down so her music could be heard over whatever was going on in the soap opera. She looked up from whatever she was making and looked at Bobby with a questioning look.**_

_**He set Danielle down on the couch, "I think her mom broke her wrist."**_

"_**Let me look at it Bobby." Evelyn sighed and gingerly took Danielle's left hand, turning it over for a moment and looking up again as Danielle hissed. Bobby was looking at Danielle with an angry look, and even though I was afraid of him, I didn't think that he was mad at her, the look in his eyes were fiery, angry…but at the person who was causing this little kid pain. He didn't like it…and I really respected that.**_

_**Danielle looked away from Bobby and instead turned her gaze to me. Her gaze wasn't one of fear, it was one of acceptance, like she was used to this or something. It surprised me, mostly because I hadn't thought that she'd be going through something like that. I knew that she'd had bruises, but I didn't know that it was to this extent, and she didn't even seem that bothered by it.**_

"_**We need to take her to the emergency room. Hopefully it's just a sprain." Evelyn stood up and turned to me, "Would you like to come with us Jackie?"**_

_**I nodded and walked beside Danielle as he led the two of us outside, "We're taking Danielle to the emergency room. Can you two make sure her mom doesn't come over here please."**_

_**Angel and Jeremiah nodded and Bobby walked with us the rest of the way to the car. I got in quickly, watching as Bobby helped Danielle into the car and buckled her seat belt before shutting her door. I watched as he spoke to Evelyn quietly outside before I turned to her.**_

"_**Why don't you tell anyone?" My voice sounded rougher than I was use to, after months of disuse, but I didn't dwell on that, it was to be expected.**_

"_**I don't know what you're talking about." I frowned as her voice grew to a higher octave, nervous now.**_

_**I shook my head, did she think I was stupid?**_

"_**I still think you should tell someone."**_

_**She nodded and looked away from me as Evelyn and Bobby got into the car. As Evelyn started driving, I grabbed Danielle's hand, being careful not to move it to much as I did so. I really didn't know what I was thinking, but there was something about this girl that I felt like I needed to help save. It was like she didn't even care that her mom was hurting her.**_

_**But, I also got where she was coming from, sure, she was scared, but at eight years old, it's hard to see any other alternatives than what you've been given.**_

Bobby left the room again, leaving Danny and me alone. She was still sleeping, after Bobby explained everything that I couldn't really remember, I could understand why she was tired.

I was glad that she'd finally said that she loved me…finally after almost twelve years, she'd finally admitted something that I'd been to afraid to do. And I hadn't even been awake for it.

Sighing, I closed my eyes, wishing the bed was a bit more comfortable.

"Jack?"

My eyes snapped open and I looked over, seeing Danny looking up at me, her eyes wide with worry.

I gave her a weak smile, "Hey Danny."

"I know you're probably feeling like shit, so I'm not going to ask you."

I almost laughed, "How're you doing? Bobby said you got in a fight with a nurse."

"No I didn't. Bobby wasn't even here for like an hour afterwards."

"How's your arm?" I looked at the arm she had sitting in her lap, eye the stitches that covered it. Her shirt was red to, and I distinctly remembered a white shirt being put on that morning. I grimaced and she looked down, shooting me an apologetic look.

"It doesn't matter. It's fine."

"I don't believe."

"Oh course not."

I smiled at her and gained myself a slight smile in return. Her expression reminded me of when we were eight and Bobby had gotten into it with her mom.

"I love you Danielle."

She looked at me, her eyes widening into that familiar curiously surprised look. I smiled at her, glad to finally say that out loud. Happy that I wasn't having to hide it anymore.

"I…" she paused for a moment, "I love you to Jackie."


	21. Chapter 21

"Danny, come on let's go." Bobby stood at the door, waiting for me to come with him as Angel took my place.

I sighed and smiled at Jack, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright." I turned, following Bobby out of the hospital room and out into the parking lot.

"Are we taking my car?" I asked him, scratching at my arms a bit as we walked. Bobby watched as I did so for a moment and grabbed my other hand, making me stop.

"Jack's not going to like it if you come back tomorrow with your stitches all torn out." He smiled for a moment and dragged me out to where Jerry had moved my car, "And obviously, we're taking yours."

I nodded and let Bobby push me into passenger seat, as I flicked more glass into the floorboards, Bobby started the car and began heading back to Miss Evelyn's house.

"So you finally told him."

I looked over at rolled my eyes at Bobby's snickering expression, I figured that he'd heard me talking to Jack, that's just how Bobby worked, he heard everything.

"Shut up."

"_**What movie are we watching exactly?" Jack and I sidled into the movie theatre seating, holding our snacks as we the previews began playing.**_

"_**I think it's called Troy. Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt are in it."**_

_**He nodded from beside me and took a handful of popcorn as I took a sip of our drink, watching the previews come with little interest.**_

_**We continued snacking as the movie came on, Jack making fun of me occasionally as the opening credits began.**_

"_Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?"_

_**I watched the screen as the scenes began playing out in front of Jack and me.**_

_**I smiled as Orlando Bloom came on, earning me a sharp jab in the ribs from Jack, "Dude, watch the movie."**_

"_**Quit fantasizing about Orlando, he's like twenty five."**_

"_**Actually, he's twenty four." I smiled at him and he rolled his eyes, "You know, that guy right there…looks like you." I pointed to the guy playing Brad Pitt's cousin and laughed.**_

"_**He does not look like me." I laughed as Jack protested, earning us some popcorn thrown at us.**_

_**I nodded, "He totally does, that is amazing…and slightly sexy."**_

_**He shook his head and threw some of our popcorn at me.**_

"_**Stop being a douche bag."**_

"_Prince Hector, is he as good a warrior as they say?"_

"_**Man he even sounds like you."**_

"_**Shut up."**_

We pulled into the parking lot and I stepped out of the car, looking at the damage of Miss Evelyn's house.

"This is such bull shit man." I sighed, pushing a hand through my hair nervously. The house looked horrible, windows on the second floor were broken and the first floor of the house looked almost like it had been hit by a bomb.

Bobby sighed from beside me, "I know."

The two of us walked inside then, being careful where we stepped because of all the glass.

"We need to clean this up."

"We can do it tomorrow. You still look tired, go to sleep." Bobby pushed me toward the steps and then walked into the kitchen.

I felt bad, knowing that Bobby really didn't want to be back here right now, especially with how the house look right now. Miss Evelyn would have had a heart attack if she'd been alive.

"Danny, go to sleep."

I smiled as Bobby yelled from the kitchen and walked up the stairs, going into my room to change out of my bloody clothes and into my nightclothes for a moment. With a sigh, I walked back out of my room and downstairs, walking past Bobby into the kitchen.

"What're you doing?"

"Throwing these away."

Bobby nodded then, watching as I threw the clothes from today in the trash.

"_**So you guys will **_**not **_**believe this."**_

_**I ran into the house, startling Miss Evelyn and Moonlight for a moment.**_

"_**What will we not believe?"**_

_**Jack laughed from behind me, "She thinks I look like one of the guys in Troy."**_

"_**Yeah, his name is Garrett Hedlund, and they look exactly alike." I jumped up and down in my excitement earning myself another laugh from Jack behind me.**_

"_**Jesus, calm down. She's been like this since the movie started."**_

_**Miss Evelyn smiled a knowing smile and handed me Moonlight, "This one hasn't stopped meowing since you two left. I think she likes the two of you."**_

"_**Awhs, you're so cute Moonlight."**_

_**The kitten purred and head butted my face, biting my chin for a moment and I held her.**_

"_**Brat." Moonlight meowed again happily and Jack laughed again.**_

"_**You know, she's a lot like someone else who lives here. Maybe that's where she gets it from."**_

_**I glared up at Jack, "Jerk."**_

I walked upstairs again, bypassing my room and going straight into Jack's.

The room had been untouched from the gun fight earlier today, everything in its place. His guitar was leaning against his bed and on the desk was a piece of paper, words written randomly on it. I walked over to the desk, picking up the paper and smiling at the words.

'Tangled Up in You' was written at the top of the page in Jack's slightly sloppy handwriting.

The lyrics were written and crossed out as he continue trying to write the lyrics that spoke to him. I smiled at the words, reading through them one more time before setting it back down.

I moved to his bed and sank into the blankets quickly, enjoying the smell that was distinctly Jack, glad that he was still going to be able to live. I smiled happily, and took a deep breath, letting the smell lull me to sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

**Jack's Point of View:**

I sighed, watching the nurses outside of my door. Angel was asleep in his chair, snoring just loud enough to keep me from sleep. I wanted Danielle to stay here tonight, but it was obvious that she needed to sleep.

Georgia popped her head into my room and smiled, "Hey Jackson, how's it going?"

"I'm okay. How've you been?"

Georgia walked in and sat down, "Pretty good. Peter and I got married about a year ago."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks Jackson. How's Danielle, she seemed pretty shaken up. Not that she shouldn't have been, you were in pretty bad shape when she brought you here."

I grimaced a bit, "I think she's still pretty shaken up, but I don't know. Bobby took her home about an hour ago."

"So she's eating again and everything?" Georgia asked quietly, she looked down at her hands nervously.

I could understand why, it scared all of us when Danielle's mom left. Everything Danielle stood for just seemed to go down the drain. She stopped eating, stopped talking…she just stopped everything, like it would make her mom come back if she did.

"She has been ever time I've seen her. Danny's not really like that anymore."

Georgia smiled then, "Good."

"So, do you know how long I'm going to be here?" I asked, with a sigh. I found hospitals creepy, especially with the history I'd had with them before I'd moved in with mom.

"Well, it depends on how well you recover. I mean, come on Jackson, you were shot in the shoulder and the legs, that's not something you just walk away from."

"I know that Georgia. I'm not stupid."

She laughed, "I know Jackson. I'm going to let you go to sleep hon, you really need to rest."

I watched as she walked out of the room and closed the door.

_**I looked out the window as Danielle walked outside and sat down on the swing, her mom was pulling out of the driveway at that moment and I sighed, walking outside to go talk to her.**_

_**I hadn't seen Danielle in a couple of days, she'd been staying at her mom's house for about a week and I didn't like that, who knows what was going on there.**_

"_**Hey Danielle." I stood in front of her watching as she looked at the ground and covered something on her neck.**_

_**Danielle was shaking a bit and it worried me, she wasn't the type of person to show anyone that she was afraid of anything…but this time, she wasn't even trying to hide it. It worried me that she was so scared, something had to going on worse than normal.**_

"_**Danny?"**_

_**She looked up then and I saw that bruise that covered her right cheek, it was large taking up the whole side of her face and I knew she was hiding a split lip from me. I sucked in a breath, trying to calm down a little, all I could see was red, I knew that her mom hadn't done this, mostly because this bruise was much bigger than something her mom could give her.**_

_**I grabbed one of her hands and knelt down to look into her eyes, "What happened?"**_

"_**Nothing." She gave me a fake smile.**_

_**I growled, and rested a hand on her bruised cheek for a moment, sighing as she flinched back from the touch.**_

"_**Tell me what happened." I spoke softly, knowing exactly how to get her to tell me. I moved my finger over her bruise, being careful not to put too much pressure on it now.**_

_**I watched as Danielle's eyes grew wide for a moment, that familiar curious look gone from her eyes now, instead her eyes were filled with fear. She shook her head then, seemingly without thinking and I saw what she'd been hiding.**_

_**I didn't know who did it, but as soon as I found out I was going to kill them. I pushed the rest of her hair off of her shoulder and glared, seeing the large hand mark that rested there.**_

"_**Wha-"**_

_**Danielle's head shot up when the door to her house opened and I followed her gaze, watching as a greasy guy walked outside, a smug smile on his fat face.**_

"_**Who the hell are you?" The guy yelled, he stared back at me, that smug smile still on his pig like face.**_

"_**I'm a friend of Danielle's, who the hell are you?"**_

_**The guy looked annoyed at my tone, and I gave him a smirk. I wanted this guy to come at me, wanted him to try to hit me so I could teach him not to hit Danielle. It would be classified as self defense if he came at me first, you couldn't get in trouble for that one.**_

"_**I suggest you go back to your house. Danielle here's had quite the attitude problem lately."**_

"_**So you hit people with attitude problems?" I yelled, my voice rising. I could see people gathering in their windows to watch what was happening. I could see the looks of surprise on their faces, Jack Mercer didn't usually get involved into arguments, he was the good one of the family, the one who could calm the Michigan Mauler down.**_

_**An angry look flashed across his face and I felt Danielle flinch from beside me. I saw red again, if Danielle was flinching from one angry look from this asshole then something was wrong, she wasn't afraid of anyone.**_

"_**You better watch what you accuse people of, you could get them into trouble."**_

"_**You should watch where you swing your damn fists." This guy was seriously pissing me off.**_

_**Who the hell did he think he was, coming into Danielle's house and just hitting her, if I found out he was doing anything else, I was going to cut his balls off and shove them down his throat.**_

_**The guy growled, but otherwise didn't speak and got into his car, driving away quickly. I turned to Danielle, looking at her.**_

"_**Who the hell was that?"**_

_**I could tell she didn't want to tell me, she didn't want to lose her mom. She'd been keeping this secret for so long that she was just used to this, used to being used as a punching bag when her mom was in a drunken rage…and she'd told me that she didn't want to lose her last tie to her real family.**_

_**But that wasn't her real family, the Mercer's were her real family. Mom and Bobby'd raised her, if that wasn't family, I didn't know what was.**_

"_**My mom's current boyfriend."**_

"_**What happened?"**_

_**She shook her head and moved off the swing, "Nothing happened Jack, just please, leave it alone."**_

_**I didn't want to, but I allowed her to walking away slightly, "Is your mom home?"**_

_**She gave me a smile, something that I usually would have returned, but her split lip and the large bruise on her cheek sort of ruined it.**_

"_**Good, now go inside and pack some clothes, you're staying with us for a while." I wasn't usually bossy and I could see the defiant look flash in her eyes, she didn't like being told what to do.**_

"_**Says who?"**_

_**I had to smile at that, only Danielle wouldn't want to do something that was good for her when someone told her to do it.**_

"_**Please go pack some clothes, I would really feel a lot better if you stayed with us for a while…at least until this guy leaves."**_

_**She looked me in the eyes, searching them for something, and finally she nodded, leading me into the house.**_

"Jackie?" I opened my eyes, looking at the small smile of Danielle.

"Hey babe." I gave her a smile in return and went to sit up. The pain that shot up my arms and legs for a moment made me want to cry, but I wasn't going to, that would just make everyone feel worse.

"Here Cracker Jack, I'll help you." Bobby helped me sit up and I looked over at Danielle, she was wearing a black shirt now, long sleeved to cover the stitches. I smiled at the logo on it, **The Spares **was written in bright red across it.

"Nice shirt."

She laughed, "Yeah, I don't know who these guys are, but they're pretty good."

"Really? Hm…I'll have to listen to them sometime."

"You really should."

She laughed again and Bobby smiled from behind her, pushing her down into her chair.

"Now, why we're here this early is because we have a plan to bury Victor Sweet. And we wanted to run it by you so you're not out of the loop or anything."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Okay, what's the plan?"

"_**You know that cats sleep for about sixteen to eighteen hours a day?"**_

_**I looked over Danielle smiling as she cooed at the little silver kitten. She made a face at the smallest one and smiled as it put its paws on the window.**_

"_**Why do you know all of this random junk?" I asked.**_

_**She shrugged, "I don't know…do you think Miss Evelyn would be mad if I brought this one home? It's so cute…I want it."**_

"_**I doubt she'd be mad. Let's go get it." I grabbed her hand and led her inside the pet shop, immediately going to the kitten table.**_

_**I picked up the little fur ball and petted it, "What're you going to name her?"**_

"_**I don't know, Moonlight looks about right."**_

_**Handing her the kitten, she took it, instantly cuddling the poor animal, "Hey there Moonlight, do you want to come home with me and Jackie here?"**_

_**The kitten meowed, answering her question and she laughed happily. She walked towards the counter then, setting the animal on the counter, "Sir, how much for this kitten?"**_

"_**Forty dollars."**_

_**I pulled out my money, watching as Danielle searched for hers and handed it to the man, "Here."**_

"_**W-what are you doing?" I shook my head as she went to hand me her money. I wanted to buy this for her, this little fur ball was important to her, it was obvious.**_

"_**I already have a guitar, besides this means that you have to share the cat…it's like joint custody or something."**_

_**She laughed and thanked the guy behind the counter before walking out of the store, putting Moonlight into her jacket to protect her from the cold.**_

"_**So this joint custody agreement, how exactly does this work?"**_

"_**You take care of the food and all that other junk…I get to play with it."**_

_**She shook her head, "Um no. If you want joint custody, you're going to have to help out with it to. This is like a marriage, we have a cute little kitten that we have to take care of now…you have to take some of the responsibility."**_

_**Putting my arm around her shoulder, I laughed again, "I was kidding Danny, God. I'll help out with it."**_

"_**Moonlight."**_

"_**I'll help out with **_**Moonlight. **_**Jesus."**_

_**She smiled up at me and then laughed as Moonlight stuck her little head out of the top of Danielle's jacket, purring loudly.**_

"So that's it? That's all you're going to do?" I looked around incredulously.

Taking down Victor was one thing…but threatening to kill a cop, even a dirty one, wasn't exactly the smartest one.

Bobby shrugged, "Yeah."

"And you're bringing Danielle down with you?"

She laughed, "Well, I'm not exactly going down with them. You see, I'm leaving right after that, unlike Bobby and Jerry.

"You better not be."

Danielle raised an eyebrow, challenging me to say she couldn't do it. I smiled in return.

"Come on guys, we gotta go." Bobby stood up, Angel and Jerry did the same and went to walk out the door.

"You're not going with them?" I asked looking over at Danielle.

She shook her head, "I'm meeting Bobby there."

My older brothers left the room then, leaving Danielle and me alone.

"So, how are you feeling?"

She ran her fingers through my hair and I smiled.

"Like hell."

She bit her lip, "I'm sorry."

"Danny, this isn't your fault."

"I should have pushed you to come with me."

I sighed, feeling that pain in my chest again, "Don't start with that. I swear to god Danielle, if you stop eating again or anything, I'm going to have Bobby kick your ass."

"Bring it Jack." She gave me a playful glare and smiled again, "By the way, the song on your desk is pretty good. When're going to write some guitar notes down huh? I'm gonna steal it from you."

I stopped myself from shrugging, "I'm not so sure about it yet. There's some things I want to change."

"Really? It looked pretty good to me."

"To you maybe, but you haven't heard the music with it."

She shrugged, "So what."


	23. Chapter 23

"I'll be back Jackie."

I leaned down and kissed his forehead, smiling for a second before walking out of the room and down to the lobby of the hospital.

Today would be the last day of Victor Sweet's reign over Detroit, and it would be the last day we tried to get revenge on Miss Evelyn's death…and Jack's near death experience. I was so ready for this to be over, ready to have some sort of break…and a chance to actually live like a family for a little while before we all left again.

I sighed and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, dialing Bobby's number, "Bobby I'm on my way."

"Good, I'll see you at the lake."

"Okay."

I got into my new rental car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

"_**So what do you guys think?" Jerry led us into the house, holding his arms wide and turning in a circle to show us the house.**_

_**I smiled, Jerry looked really happy, when he finally married to Camille, he'd moved out and gotten an apartment. Now that Camille was pregnant, he'd had to buy a new house so they would have some extra room.**_

"_**This is nice Jeremiah." Miss Evelyn smiled and walked inside, taking everything in, the walls were a bit bare and there wasn't much furniture yet, but I had a feeling that this place was going to end up pretty amazing.**_

_**Jerry turned and smiled, "Thanks ma."**_

"There you are." Bobby watched as I got out of my car.

"I'm not late Bobby."

He shrugged and walked off, leaving me behind as I quickly locked my car and ran after him, "Wait up."

I caught up to him and walked beside him as we walked on the frozen lake to where Jerry was meeting up with Victor. Our plan was a pretty good one, no one would find Victor after we were done, and no one could peg it on us.

Hopefully.

"How exactly are we going to do this?" I asked, looking over at Bobby.

He shrugged, "Just follow my lead."

"I'm always following your lead."

"You're still breathin' ain't you. That means my lead's pretty good if you ask me."

"But I didn't."

He smiled a bit.

"Are you wearing Miss Evelyn's rosary?"

Bobby nodded, "Yeah, I found it on her dresser."

"That's pretty ironic."

He looked over at me, curious, "What d'you mean?"

"I mean you're about to kill a guy and you're wearing a rosary."

He shrugged, but otherwise remained quiet as the two of us walked up to the scene.

"Who's gonna do it huh?" Victor Sweet was yelling, nervous as we walked up to him.

"Oh, so it's gonna be Bobby. And look little Danielle's here too."

Victor's voice grew an octave higher.

"Hey Victor." I smirked at him, enjoying as he squirmed.

Bobby stepped forward, hitting him hard in the face, causing cheers from Victor's former henchmen. For these guys to have been so loyal, it was extremely easy to pay these guys off, it was a little sad.

Jerry helped Bobby up as he was hit to the ground, pushing his older brother back into the fight. Bobby was going to win this, it was obvious, no one could beat the Michigan Mauler, it was something that everyone knew. Even now, years after Bobby had left for good, all the kids knew not to mess with him.

"Hey Danny, you wanna say something to Victor here?"

Bobby held Victor for me and I walked into the circle, punching Victor once square in the jaw.

"That was for Miss Evelyn."

I punched him again, enjoying myself for a moment, "That one was for Jack."

Bobby let him go then, and I punched Victor one more time, sending him to the ground, "And that one, is for being a douche bag." I went to walk away then, kicking Victor in the chest before leaving the circle.

I could feel blood trickling down my arm, and I rolled up my sleeve, seeing that some of my stitches had broke open. Sighing, I left the fight behind me as I walked back to the car, ignoring the blood on my arm.


	24. Chapter 24

"Danielle, you're bleeding." Jack looked at my arm as I walked into his hospital room.

Georgia had given me a towel to put over it until she could come back and stitch it up again, but the thing was already covered in crimson red.

"I know, I know."

"Danny sit down."

I looked behind me at Georgia as she walked in, a box in her hand as she looked at me sternly.

I sat down, laughing at her expression, "When did you become so serious?"

"After the two of you escaped Detroit."

I smiled, "I wouldn't call it escaping, more like exploring."

"Whatever."

She moved a chair and sat across from me, taking out the broken stitches and then pushing the needle through my skin. I made a face, remember my heroine days as she did so.

"This is probably going to get infected because you just insist on doing everything against what the doctor told you not to."

"I didn't get to see a doctor Georgie, and the nurse that did this was a prick. The guy didn't tell me anything."

She looked up at me for a moment, "Was it Herald?"

"How should I know?"

Georgia rolled her eyes at me and looking back down, finishing quickly, "Pour some peroxide on it when you get home to clean it out okay. If it get's infected you're not going to enjoy it."

"I didn't think I would."

"God, you're still a smartass."

"And I had to live with her."

I made a face over at Jack and Georgia smiled, "I wish the circumstances could have been a lot different, but I'm really glad to see you guys."

I nodded, "It's good to see you too. I figured that you would have left for an acting career or something of the sort after we graduated."

"Nah, I've always loved the thought of nursing." Georgia smiled again, "And besides Peter's parents are here, we couldn't just leave them behind."

"I'm glad to hear that you guys finally got married."

She laughed and walked over to the sink, throwing everything into the biohazard can and washing her hands methodically.

"Yeah, I am too, took forever for the poor guy to do it though."

"That sound like Peter for you." The two of us laughed and then she turned to Jack.

"Do you want lunch now?"

"Sure."

She walked out of the room, leaving us alone again.

"So, I figure that Bobby, Jerry, and Angel are going to be a little late."

Jack smiled at me, "Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me."

"_**Come on Jack, come watch this movie with me."**_

_**I was on my knees by this point, begging Jack to come with me.**_

"_**I don't want to go see Georgia Rule. It looks stupid."**_

_**I grabbed his hand, "Please Jack. Please, I'll be your best friend…I won't bother you to go see a movie with me ever again."**_

"_**You're such a liar. You always want to go see movies."**_

_**I sighed, and stood up then, "Miss Evelyn!"**_

_**She walked down the stairs, that knowing smile on her face when she saw the two of us, "Yes Danielle?"**_

"_**Jack promised to go see a movie with me today and now he said he's not going to."**_

_**I knew this was childish, but I always got my way, I didn't care right now. I was going to get my way.**_

"_**Jack, you did say you would go with her."**_

"_**Mom, I don't want to go see this movie. It's a chick flick."**_

_**She raised an eyebrow, "Jackie, you promised that you would go, and you picked the last movie."**_

"_**Ha." I smiled and Jack rolled his eyes in defeat.**_

"_**Fine, let's go."**_

_**Miss Evelyn sat down on the couch, pulling out her knitting needles, "Be careful you two. And enjoy the movie."**_

_**Jack groaned as I pulled him out of the house and into my car, "This movie is going to be so good. It's got that guy that looks like you in it."**_

"_**I figured."**_

"You need to go down and get something to eat." Jack was looking at me, his arms crossed as tried to argue with me.

"I'm not hungry Jackie."

He rolled his eyes, "Don't start that again."

"Start what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

I rolled my eyes in return, "I'm not doing that Jack. I'm just not hungry."

"I'm not eating until you eat something."

I sighed, "Fine, I'll go eat in the cafeteria."

"No, you're going to bring it up here."

"Jack, don't start that-"

"Danielle." He looked at me, that familiar look on his face when he wanted me to do something.

I sighed defeated, "Fine."

Walking out of the hospital room, I took the elevator down and walked into the busy cafeteria.

I went through the lines quickly, trying to not think of all the other times I'd had to come here for myself.

"_**Danny?" Someone was shaking me, yelling my name from far away, "Danielle?"**_

_**The voice was frantic, worried that I hadn't been home all night, worried that all I wanted to do was follow into the darkness that was threatening to consume me.**_

_**I'd been off the heroin for about a month, mostly because Bobby'd been following me around everywhere I went. He didn't think that I knew, but it was sort of obviously.**_

_**But, now, Bobby trusted me enough to leave me alone, and that's when I made my choice. I liked the feeling of having the drug running through my veins, loved the feeling of euphoria that it gave me.**_

…_**And this time, I might have taken it too far.**_

"_**Damn it Danielle, you gotta wake up." The shaking was getting rougher now, the voice growing an octave in fear.**_

_**I knew the voice, was quiet familiar with it, but at the moment, I couldn't pinpoint where I knew it from. I was tired…I was tired of the same old routine, the same problems…**_

_**The same idea that my mom was going to come back when she obviously never was.**_

_**I didn't want to deal with that anymore, I just wanted everything to stop…and it seemed like the only way to stop that was to take as much heroin as I thought I could handle just to forget about it for a while.**_

_**I didn't think about the consequences then…and currently I was thinking that maybe I should have thought about that before that.**_

"_**Danielle…"**_

_**The voice was fading away now, I was following the blackness, glad that everything was falling away now.**_

…

"_**How much longer do you think she'll be out?" I could hear Miss Evelyn's voice somewhere in the distance, the concern obvious in her voice.**_

_**I couldn't figure out who she was talking about though, just minutes before I'd been playing basketball…or something, I couldn't exactly remember.**_

"_**There's no telling ma'am. Right now we're just monitoring her, there's a chance she might not wake up."**_

"_**There's a chance she might now wake up? You said that we got her here on time." Jack was yelling, that same scared voice from when we were kids.**_

_**I could hear the other person sighing, "Yes, but that doesn't mean anything."**_

_**This person was incredibly annoying, it was nasally and I didn't like the sound of it, didn't like the idea of that person talking to Jack in that voice that obviously didn't care.**_

"_**Look, we sometimes find this in drug addicts-"**_

"_**She's not an addict." Jack yelled again.**_

"_**She overdosed on heroin sir; that sometimes results in coma's that are quite lengthy. Sometimes, people don't wake up all, which is what might happen here. There was a lot of heroin in her system, more than I've seen in one person that's come into this hospital."**_

_**They were talking about me, I knew now. I was in the hospital, on the verge of giving Jack a heart attack…great.**_

_**Why couldn't he just leave me there?**_

"_**Thank you." It was Miss Evelyn again, a resigned sigh coming from her.**_

"_**Jackie, sit down."**_

"_**What the hell is she doing mom?"**_

"_**Jackie, she's trying to heal…and we may not like it, but sometimes this happens."**_

"_**It's not supposed to happen. She was getting back on her feet, Danielle was getting better."**_

"_**That can happen Jackie."**_

"_**It shouldn't have happened with Danielle."**_

_**Jack's voice was only rising now.**_

"_**Jack calm down."**_

"_**No mom. She's being an idiot."**_

_**I wanted to say something, anything that could defend myself. But, I couldn't. I felt too weak to do anything but listen right now…and I didn't have an excuse.**_

"Happy?" I walked back into Jack's hospital room, slamming a tray down on the table.

Jack smiled, "Yes I am."

I rolled my eyes and sat down, taking a bite of the burrito that I'd gotten from the cafeteria.

"I really hate this hospital."

Jack nodded, "Yeah, I was just thinking about that. God, the last time you were in here was scary."

"Yeah, and I had to listen you complaining the whole with no chance to defend myself."

"You couldn't defend yourself against that."

I rolled my eyes again, "Shut up."

He laughed and I watched as he flinched immediately.

"You okay Jackie?"

"I'm fine."

He grimaced again and I sighed, "I'm going to get Georgia alright."

"No, I'm fine."

"Well, you can tell that to Georgia."

I stood up, and walked out of the hospital room again, walking to the desk and getting the attention of Georgia as she fixed someone's file.

"Georgia, Jack's not feeling well."

She stood up, "Alright."

I followed her into his room, watching as she spoke to him, "Now, is it just your shoulder."

"Yeah." He grimaced again.

"I'm going to give you some morphine, and it's going to make you drowsy, that's normal, so don't worry about it."

"Okay."

She put the needle into Jack's IV and smiled, "That should kick in soon."

Georgia left the room and I smiled, Jack already looked tired.

"Here Jack, I'm going to move your food out of the way."

I smiled and moved the little table thing, "You better eat that."

Jack yawned and I leaned back his bed, "I will Jack. I promise."

I walked back to my table and took a bite of the burrito, smiling again as Jack began snoring lightly.


	25. Epilogue

**[Three Months Later]:**

I walked into the living room where Jack was lounging on the couch, the TV turned up all the way as Bobby ran the saw outside.

"Hey Jackie."

I handed him a glass of water and sat down on the floor in front of him, leaning my head back as he started playing with my hair.

"Hey babe." He smiled and turned the TV down a bit, "How're you feeling?"

"Asks the one who just got out of the hospital."

He laughed, "I can still ask you that."

Leaning down slightly, he kissed me, I laughed into the kiss, "You're a dork Jack."

Jack had been out of the hospital for about a month, his shoulder was healed pretty well, now we were just waiting for his legs to heal up a bit, he was using crutches right now, and his older brothers were babying him like crazy.

"Hey Jack, do you need anything?" Angel turned from where he was placing a window, looking over at the two of us.

"No, I'm fine. Danielle got me some water."

Angel nodded and Jack looked at me, rolling his eyes, "I'm so tired of them doing that."

"Get used to it hon. They'll be doing that for a while."

"Great."

He sighed and turned the TV up again. I smiled and stood up, leaning over him, blocking his view of the TV, "Hey…"

"What?" Jack smiled up at me, his blue eyes lighting up a bit as I leaned closer to his face.

"I love you."

I kissed him again, laughing as Jack pulled me down on top of him.

"I love you to."

I knew that this relationship wasn't exactly going to be easy, Jack didn't exactly know what a relationship was, and to tell you the truth I didn't either. But laying on top of him on the couch, laughing as I struggled to get out of his grip before one of his brothers saw us, I knew that I wanted to learn all of this mushy bullshit with him. I didn't want to learn it with some other guy, Jack was the only one who could have saved me when I was a teenager…and my heart belonged to him.


End file.
